Secret Fishing Hole

Now, I’m not gonna spill the beans as to this top secret fishing hole of Geoff’s, but it’s only 4 minutes from the house and easy for Daddy to get the kids and go fishing for an hour or so. Emeron caught the first fish of the season, a big ole German Brown. He is quite proud, as you can tell.

Jacob Says

This morning, feeling out of the ordinary, I thought I'd try to fix Jakey's hair nice and neat. I made my attempt and then he disappeared into the other room and came back saying matter-of-factly; "Mom, I like my hair playing around." :)

Have You Seen This?

WoW! I just loved this -- it gives me hope and makes me stand a little taller. :)

Come On, Spring!

Brother of Jared

This week for Family Home Evening we had a lesson on the Brother of Jared. We talked about the great faith he had and his inspiration in finding stones that were white and clear like glass and asking the Lord to touch them so they would shine in the darkness and give light.

In the Book of Mormon we read: “And I know, O Lord, that thou has all power, and can do whatsoever thou wilt for the benefit of man; therefore touch these stones, O Lord, with thy finger, and prepare them that they may shine forth in darkness; and they shall shine forth unto us in the vessels which we have prepared, that we may have light while we shall cross the sea. And it came to pass that when the brother of Jared had said these words, behold, the Lord stretched forth his hand and touched the stones one by one with his finger.” (Ether 3:4,6)



As we were reading through the story we were not too sure of who was paying attention until Geoff turned the lights out and held a white stone in his hand with a flashlight underneath, showing the kids what the stones might have looked like. They were all wide-eyed and quiet as they each took their turn holding the stone of light. :)

Little Giant

Lately, David has really taken to climbing. Look where I found him playing.....

Here, it looks like he thought the barbie bed looked like a comfy place to rest for a bit....


Now, he is on to exploring the patio portion of this lovely dollhouse.....

But I think all in all, he found it slightly cramped.

Snow Globe

It was a Sunday morning, just after bath-time and I heard Farrell exclaim: “It’s a SNOWGLOBE outside!!” Sure enough, the snow was falling in big beautiful snowflake bunches – and it really did look like a snow globe.

Here is a shot from January of Seth, Jacob and Emeron in our snow fort. You know, my kids love forts with pillows, forts with blankets and sheets, forts under tables, really any sort of a fort is great, but one made of snow seems especially cool for this bunch of kids!

David is getting so big on us – it really is not fair. He went through a rough week where he simply decided that he was not going to take a nap. Well, he never lasted through the day and always ended up crashing at the table. Looks comfy, eh? After a few days of this he has (thankfully!!) returned to the normal schedule of napping in his crib, with his warm soft blankies -- no more cold hard plastic for this boy.

Coon Hunting

Occasionally, we have some aggressive visitors come to our place just for the food. Raccoons. Once Geoff tried to take care of them with peanut butter and a metal trap, and one fell for it, but once in the trap, the varmint chewed its way out and escaped. They keep coming back and because our city will not take them, Geoff decided to take care of them the old-fashioned way….with his bow and arrow.

A Peek At Christmas

All aboard! Santa brought Ems and Jacob new N-scale trains. They love them!! Honestly, they are just as excited about the trains as they are about the Wii! They love to send candy around to each other and their absolute favorite is to be the engineer. Christmas magic!

Two American Girl Dolls --


Jacob chugging draft style root-beer with double pearl handles close by --


Abby shoveling us out of the snow --


Abby and Fare sporting their new scarves at a family party.


Here is a shot of the kids on Christmas Eve in their jammies:
I think I said something like this: "Everybody sit here in front of the tree, let's get a picture of your new jammies! (Never mind that we've been going all day long and now you're all melting....) David, stop pulling on your brother. Jacob, it's okay -- just one picture, smile for the camera!!" :)

Here are a few shots of the kids on the Sunday before Christmas.
Froggy.


Davey-Crockett.


Abs.


Fare.


Nan.


Em-za.


And the whole bunch --











MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Photos courtesy of my Christmas present, from my sweetheart -- my very own (meaning I don't have to borrow Abby's anymore) SLR. Canon. EOS. Rebel. XSi.

--oh, yeah!

Reflections Winner

Abs received awards in 2 of the 5 areas she entered..... music and film. Way to go, Abs!

A Good Place

Jacob wanted to save his lunch for later...... He said, "this is a good place" and stuck it on the fridge. 

Missing Friends

Ems and Jacob with a few of their FAVORITE friends --- just before they moved.....  :(

We miss you guys!!

Mmm, Looks Good

This picture is a classic. It is so Farrell. He is in the background there, eye-ing that delicious looking ear of corn. I’m thinking he is already dreaming of the turkey and potatoes that will adorn his plate here in a couple of days.







Here are 9 fun facts about Farrell you should know, for he is 9 years old. (Okay, so this too, should have been posted a month ago.)

1. Farrell is a champion! Really, in baseball his team was #1. He received the “best-overall” award in soccer. And he earned the MVP award in his first year of Flag Football this fall. He LOVES sports.
2. He used to play the violin, and now plays the piano. But, of course, would much rather be outside playing catch.
3. He loves to eat.
4. He is happy and really can make anyone laugh with his silly-ness! As a matter of fact, he often resorts to trying to make his little brothers laugh when they are about to cry, “Mom!”
5. He loves riding his rip-stick.
6. Farrell can do a ‘fripple-back-flip with a front-flip-extra” on the trampoline.
7. He is really kindhearted and enjoys serving others. If he sees our neighbor out in their yard, he would much rather help her with her yard work than work in his own yard. ;)
8. He likes to draw and build things.
9. He is friendly and makes friends easily – with anyone, no matter their age. There are a handful of older people in our ward who ADORE him, 2 or 3 times a month someone will come up to me and tell me how they “just love that Farrell.”

We love you so very much Fare!!

There Is Beauty All Around

This fall Abby went to an overnight camp at Clear Creek with the girls in the 5th grade. I went with as a chaperone. They had a packed schedule full of fun and learning. One of the activities on the first day was a ‘ropes-course’ where they learned to help one another in a small group setting and rely on one another – this was one of the highlights for all the girls.



Later, on the first day we went on a hike, and I was reminded of something beautiful about Abby…. Many of the girls were chatting in small groups, not lifting their eyes from the trail. Abby, on the other hand, was looking all around and repeatedly stopped and would look up with awe at the beauty all around us, she was taking picture after picture of the fall leaves, stopping and pointing “Wow! Look at that! That’s so pretty!” She took over 100 pictures, no kidding. Anyway, I just loved it how she was able to appreciate the beauty that was all around us.







There are so many things about Abs that you should know – here are 11 (in honor of her 11th birthday,….um, which was recently – okay, not so recently.)

1. She is smart – and knows it, but doesn’t flaunt it – she appreciates it.
2. She got her ears pierced! (Yeah, she got her Dad to approve 1 year early!!)
3. She really likes to take pictures and make movies.
4. She loves to read. Yeah, yeah, old news – everyone knows that one.
5. Her favorite color is light BLUE.
6. She loves tradition. We can do something once, and if it was fun – it’s tradition and we’re locked into doing it again and again.
7. She loves to write stories.
8. When it’s movie night, she often looks for the LONGEST movie.
9. Abby is everyone's friend!
10. When one of her little brothers get hurt, she is the first one on the scene to help.
11. Game Time anyone? Abby loves to play games, card games, board games, all games!

Happy Birthday Abby!! We love you so very much!!

Thinking Ahead

The first thing Farrell said when he woke up this morning:

"When I'm in college, do you think I can play tackle football during recess?"

Happy Birthday EMERON

Here is a little post for Ems: After our family night last night, the kids were goofing around a little (surprise, huh) and Anna was trying to shut the door before Daddy got to it and Ems was right there and turned his face and…. yeah, the door handle got Ems right in the cheek, it split open. So, after a little deliberation between Geoff and I as to whether to take him into the ER, and if we should get a plastic surgeon,… Geoff, er, I mean Dr. Dean, ended up super-gluing the cut together and attaching a band-aid. And Emeron was brave through the whole ordeal.

You know this Emeron of ours, he is quite a kid. He is named after his Daddy and his Great Grandpa. And, I just have to say that whoever is Em’s friend is as lucky as can be because he is such a nice kid!! He is always, always, always so kind to others. He, of course loves to have fun and be silly – he is Geoff’s son. Emeron is turning 5, and here are FIVE things I want you to know about him:

1) He is extremely tolerant of his younger brothers of 3 years and 1 year. He helps them and shares with them and teaches them….
y’know, mostly good stuff.

2) Ems can run fast! Wooosh! If you could see him run it would make your hair blow! He also loves any sort of accolades given in this regard.

3) He is reading – and proud of it! This is always such a fun stage for me when the kids first learn to read, and they find the words they know on signs,
on mail, and in books. Emeron enjoys it for the most part, as long as he reads in small, short intervals. :)

4) Ems loves the colors DARK BLUE and RED. He is a BYU fan, after all – and loves to share that with anyone who happens to be wearing blue.
And did you know that RED is mostly a spiderman color, and not so much a UTE color?

5) Emeron is a superhero at heart! Any given day he is always the good-guy – saving the world! (If only he could help us on this Election Day.)

We love you Emeron!! You are our Very Important Person today and always. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!