Wedding Shower and Baby Shower

 Max's fiancee Amanda while opening gifts. We had a lot of fun with poor Amanda - she was such a good sport!

 Apparently bathing while dressed is now acceptable - or so he thinks.

The poor kids arm looks like he's been attacked. These welts would come and go in random places on his body for a few weeks. They didn't seem to bother him and they'd only last for about fifteen minutes so we left them alone. When I first saw them I thought one of the kids had been biting him.

Fun Run

The kids did a fun run to raise money for the PTA. It was the first year that they've done this - which translates to - it could've been better but considering that this was the first year, it was great and the kids had a blast!

Bear Lake Trip

 We went to Bear Lake to help Uncle David put his boat up for the winter. At the docks these fish come 'running', technically swimming, when you come because they think you're going to feed them! The dock master feeds them daily - they're huge!

 On the way to the cabin we saw a moose! He was enjoying some berries that hadn't been eaten yet.

 My camera sucks, but this picture was of the moon on the lake at nigh. It looked amazing in real life. Unfortunately the heater at Anne and David's wouldn't turn on so we had to head home instead of spending the night.

Jordan enjoying a dandelion before they're all gone.

Happy 7th Birthday to Drew

 Drew wanted a reptile party. As a surprise I hired a guy to come and show them a bunch of different reptiles. He even let them hold them afterwards! He did a great job and the kids all loved it.

 Then we made the kids try to eat a donut off the fishing line - no hands allowed. It was pretty funny.

So much growing and learning has taken place in the last year for Drew. He is an amazing reader, does great with math - he's the banker when we play Monopoly - LOVES video games and animals!

At his annual check-up his stats were:

45.2 lbs = 17%

48 in = 46% (tall enough to ride the rides at Lagoon!)

Jordan Messy

Jordan LOVES to get messy.

A Family Trip Divided

 Right before we left on vacation we got Grandpa Fred a haircut. Ms. Diane was sweet enough to do it for us!

 Playing Wii at Aunt Angie's house on our way to St. George.

 Alexis wanted to get her ears pierced while we were on vacation.

While we were getting ears pierced, John was enjoying a baseball game in San Francisco. He'd never been to San Francisco so he was stoked to be getting out and seeing all the sports arenas that he'd grown up seeing and hearing about.

We were all supposed to go to San Fran but because of a few plans that came up we scheduled for just John to go. When they didn't go through the kids were upset that they weren't getting their vacation so I took them to Aunt Steph's to play.

 This picture does it no justice at all, but that hillside is steep. Steph and Ikani took us fishing, but we had to hike down to get there. I would've said no and left but Ikani was smart and took my kids down before I could see what I was in for. The kids had no luck and we were ready to leave. Madison had a meltdown because she hadn't had a turn yet. Ikani gave her a pole with no bait and let her cast it in. It went about as far as you'd expect - maybe seven feet if she was lucky. After about sixty seconds we told her it was time to go so she started reeling it in. She caught a baby fish! The kids were so excited - they all gathered around for a picture. The three older kids in the back with Drew holding the fish and Jocelyn in the center of all of them. Drew dropped the fish and its tail whacked Jocelyn right in the eye. The adults busted up and Jocelyn lost it. As soon as Steph sends me the pics I will post - it was hilarious!

 We went to cut down a tree with Steph and Ikani. My kids had never seen such a thing so this was great fun for them.

 Playing at a mini ghost town was also a hoot. It only cost $1/person so it was well within my budget. While there Stephanie saw some prickly pears and wanted them. She gingerly picked them with a covered hand and put them in a bag. Drew saw this and got a little too excited. He went picking and kept getting pricklies in his fingers because he was doing it bare handed. He was too excited to stop though. In fact it was so much fun that we went home and got some gloves and prongs to pick with! We then made prickly pear jelly - which is actually more like syrup because I ran out of pectin. It's still delicious though.

While we were picking prickly pears John was enjoying sight seeing. Because of the government shut-down he didn't get to go to Alcatraz Island though.

The main reason John went to San Francisco was to see his favorite NFL team play in their stadium before they moved to the new one. 

 While John was enjoying the game his daughter was writing things like this! (Madison love Denayer)

 While John was enjoying a nice walk through the aquarium Jocelyn was chowing down on some food.

  And while John was enjoying the trolley Jordan was enjoying a shopping trip!