Evan is a Tiger

Evan got into my eyeliner and made himself a Tiger.

He was a little sad he did not get his face painted like the girls.  I guess he had his own look in mind.

School is back in session

Katie is leaving for 8th grade.

Kinsey is a fourth Grader.

Macie is a second grader.

Evan was taking pictures too.

Mya with her new backpack.  She left with her therapist.

Mya's first day of Kindergarten.

Mya's first day on the bus.

I love that the bus picks her up at the house.

Now it is Evan and I at home.  What will we ever do?

Painting Katie's Room

Katie has wanted her room painted for a long time.  We finally did it.

Here it is all taped off.

We started with her name.

She is a goofball.

Mom painted.

Kinsey Painted.

Mya painted.

Dad painted.  Macie painted but I did not get a good picture of her.

Her ipod blends in very well.

Here is the final product all dry.  Once we get her new bed I will post pictures of the final room.

Kids Carnival

Mya's therapy office had a kids carnival and we had so much fun.  We were there for three hours playing on the many jump houses, eating hotdogs and cotton candy, and getting faces painted by the clowns. I did not have my camera out while we were at the carnival because I had to watch Mya and Evan.  Chad ended up not being able to go because our friends the Shucks needed him more.  They were out of town and their oldest boy fell off of a roof and broke his right wrist and cracked his left elbow.  Chad went to be the father figure and give him a blessing. I took pictures when we got home.

Macie made a very cute puppy.

This is Pirate Kinsey.

Here is a close up of her face.

Evan got a sword.

Mya was a butterfly.

Family Pictures

Kiddie Kandids was having a summer special so we had our photos done.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Evan was making everyone laugh.  This one has so many funny faces.

Like Father like son.  Evan wants to be just like his dad at all times.

Two people in love.

Mya's face is priceless.

Trek Final Day

Our final day of the trek was bitter sweet.  I was so ready to go home and love my babies at home with grandma Robin (and I wanted my feet to recover), but I also wanted to stay longer to be in such a spiritual place.  

 

We took family pictures and a whole group picture.

After we took the tents down and loaded up our carts, we had breakfast.  After breakfast, some girls found a huge rope and started jumping.  It did not take long for the boys to show off their jumping skills as well. Then we had to trek the 3 miles back to base.  The bishop had me ride in the food cart because of my toes.

We rode the bus to Ogden and stopped to eat at Cafe Rio.  We got lots of looks because of our attire but our favorite was when people asked us if we were Amish.

This is Brooke and Amanda, two of the three girls in our family.

Me, Chad, Zac, Jadyn and Connor.

I have heard that our ward wants to do this every four years.  Kinsey will just be turning 12 so she would be able to go.  Mom, will you schedule us in again in four years?  I would do this again in a heartbeat.

Trek Day 3 Cont...

Here we go, back across the bridge.

The river was running really high so the Bishop opted for the option of the boys carrying the girls across the 2 1/2 foot swamp.  

Katie is being carried by David and Mitchell.

Chad and Darren pulled me through on a handcart.

I loved seeing the excitement in all of the boys.  They were all willing to carry or pull someone across.

The Bishop decided to let us cross the river.  Chad is about halfway through.  I love the background.  I am marching  over for my turn but Poor Katie was sent away because she is not 16 (we later learned sh could have crossed with Chad but she would not come back).

Chad is coming back to get me.

I am making sure he is following.

We just started and look how high the water is.

This is the part where it was too deep to touch and the current was pulling hard.

The water was about 4 feet 6 inches deep.  It was not very cold.

After we went through the river we trekked to the spot where the Women's pull is.  This was the highlight of my day.  The men were taken to the top of the hill and given an amazing pep talk. This part is to represent when the men were taken off to war.

All of the women stayed at the bottom and had a very inspiring talk by Sister Graham.  We then prepared ourselves to pull the carts up the hardest hill.

The men lined up on both sides of the hill while the women pulled the carts up the hill. This is Katie's family going up the hill.  Katie is the black skirt in the back.  Her team made it up the hill so fast and with no other help.

When my family started up the hill, I felt like I was walking through a warm tunnel.  I have never felt so much spirit in one place.  Our team was second to last and no one was letting the groups struggle to get up the hill.  There were so many helping each other push their carts.

There was so much love and hugging at the top of the hill.  We are hugging Katie's best friend Hannah (who is not a hugger).

The blue family had a group hug and prayer.

Katie is having solo time reading her letters from Mom, Dad, and Grandma.

After our seven miles of pulling handcarts and being drained emotionally, we were given four ounces of flour for dinner.  We made ash cakes.  They were not too bad when you cooked them right. 

We did get a real dinner later, but it was great to see our youth not complain.  We ended the night with a testimony meeting.  We have such a close and strong ward.  The missionaries were really surprised when we said we were part of a ward and not from a whole stake.