I LOVE SUMMER!

Jacob ran his first marathon! Hurray!

It's official! Summer is finally here, and I am in heaven! Sleeping in (as much as Finn will let me), lazy mornings, nowhere we have to be, no packing school lunches or homework, lots of splashing in the kiddie pool out back...heaven! We are loving summer! Here's a hodge-podge of our goings-ons.

We enrolled Keiger in a British Soccer Camp this summer. He pretty much plays soccer with Jacob everyday, so he was pumped for his camp to start. The camp is run by a group of young British coaches who have fantastic accents. It was really cute, I mean cool. Keiger loved Coach Adam. I loved hearing his coach call out, "Good job, Kee-guh!" and, "put the balls in the socca-locka." Keiger did really well and is quite a good player already.

Sorry, I forgot to rotate the picture. Once school got out, I headed up to Utah with the kids for a little vacation. We went to the fish hatchery. This was Finn's first time fishing and you can imagine him flinging a fishing pole all around. It was pretty funny.

My mom and I had so much fun with the kids at the Lagoon. They were all over that park! Sage is a ride-maniac! By the end of the day, Keiger had become really brave, too, and tried all sorts of fun rides. We didn't leave until 10 p.m., and only because the park was closing. Too fun.

Riding Zip at Mackenzie and Lance's house in Boise. Sage did great riding all by herself. Baby Addy was born just a few days later!

Sage turned 7 at the end of May, and we celebrated at Grandma and Grandpa's. Sage was excited to get just what she wanted for her birthday: an electric pencil sharpener! She is so funny!

At the end of the school year, Sage had a Girl Scout dinner to bridge from being a "Daisy" to a "Brownie." She was so proud to get her new brown uniform, and she looks darling in it.

We camped at Pagosa Springs, CO again this year. I still can't believe how filthy the kids can get while camping. Finn was literally covered in dirt. Probably because he just rolled around in it. Jacob also ran his first trail marathon and finished 5th overall. Seriously, he makes it look easy. Heather and I ran the 1/2 marathon and had a fun time. We've discovered this run/walk method that is wonderful.

Denver

Last week, Jacob had a training for work in Denver so the kids and I braved the busy freeways and joined him for a few days. I have no idea what we would have done without a GPS (a.ka. "Miss Yelley") to help us get around. I was pretty stressed by the crazy busy roads and was so thankful we made it everywhere we wanted to go safely. And we did get to explore some great places. Denver is a cool city.

The kids were fascinated by the Downtown Aquarium. Keiger was a bit nervous at first, but he summed up the guts to touch a starfish with Sage. Sage was so excited to see a macaw since her class has been studying rainforests. When we were resting in the lounge after going through the exhibits, a trainer walked by with the "Miss Molly," the macaw and had her perform some tricks. What a treat.

Just a short walk from the aquarium is the Denver Children's Museum. Too fun. The kids had a blast in the bubble exhibit and ran, climbed, and slid all over areas decorated like forests, only cushoined. They loved shopping in the pretend market. Finn did a great job painting and even stayed pretty clean. I was impressed.

We also got to visit the Museum of Nature and Science, which is GINORMOUS! The GPS took us on a crazy route right through downtown to get there. It was nerve-wracking, but really neat to see neat landmarks like the Mint and the Capital Building. I'd definitely like to go back and explore someday. Anyway, the museum was overwhelming with so much to see and do. The kids enjoyed the animal displays, dinosaur skeletons, and I think they were grossed out by the mummy exhibit (they sucked the brains of dead people out of their noses! Eww!). There is a great view of downtown from the back of the museum, as well as geese to chase and a fun playground (my kids' favorite).

Sage loves learning and has a memory like a sponge. She loved reading whatever she could about all the exhibits we saw. Several times she surprised me by telling me the names of different animals and facts about them, like how the Lionfish has poisonous spikes. How on earth does she know all this? From what she's learned at school and from reading "101 Freaky Animals." Who knew? She certainly taught us a lot about some of the animals we got to see.

I think Finn had the most fun of all playing in the bathtub at the hotel. He could have stayed in the water forever tinkering with plastic cups.

We were able to spend a night at Kent and Rolayne's house, which was very nice of them. They were darling with the kids. When we asked Sage and Keiger what their favorite part of trip was, they both agreed it was getting to go to the Sellers' house.

So it was a super-fun trip. Too bad Jacob had to spend so much of it at his training, but we're proud of his hard work and thankful for the chance we had have this little getaway.

Spring Fever

Lots to catch up on. The last couple of months have been pretty busy with some neat activities. We've been able to have some wonderful trips to the temple for friends and family and have had chances to do some fun things with our kiddos.
Sage and I met my mom for a girls' weekend in Albuquerque to see "Wicked." Fabulous! We had such a good time--even stayed in a hotel that had a waterpark. Sage was super-brave and tried the wave rider!

Give Finn a paintbrush and look what happens! He loved having his hands painted and got such a kick out of smacking his face with his hands. He also ate a bit of paint. Big surprise.

We drove up to Twin Falls over Sage's spring break to see Mackenzie and Lance sealed. Wonderful day. I spent the rest of the week in Ogden. Sage and I went skiing at Snowbasin with my dad and had a great time. We did start off with a bit of an adventure--didn't exactly pick the easiest way down. Thankfully, Sage got over that trauma pretty quick and did so well. She says she learned how to go fast!

We also took Keiger skiing this year. Here he is at Sipapu, where he mastered the "magic carpet" treadmill thing that takes you to the top of the learning slope. He didn't want anybody to help him--he just wanted to go! He did a great job.

Firsts

We’ve loved getting wonderful pictures and letters from friends and family. What great reminders of the remarkable people who have touched our lives. It’s been such a wonderful Christmas vacation, just the blessing I needed to help slow down, simplify, and just be with my family. So apologies that this letter is late in coming. Since it is our FIRST time writing a New Year’s Letter, we figured we’d dedicate it to our family’s…
“Famous FIRSTS!”

SAGE
-Lost her first teeth! Drama! Drama! Drama!
-Started first grade and has her first chance to do homework. Thankfully, she has yet to have her first bad day at school. She loves it, especially being the first one to get her work done and among the first to finish her lunch so she can go to recess early.
-First year in Girl Scouts. She is the cutest little Daisy and proudly recites the motto.
-First summer riding bike without training wheels and first time swimming by herself.

KEIGER
-Turned four and had his first birthday party with friends. He has got to be the first kid to have a Buzz-Lightyear/Motorcyle party. Pin Buzz on the motorcycle is quite the game.
-Probably the first little boy to use such delightful phrases as, “Oh, my goodness gracious!” and “Awesome Possum!” He’s also the first to ask me if “goodness sake” was another name for Santa Claus. “You better watch out for goodness sake!”

FINNEAS
-First of our children to show us what it really means to write on walls and get into EVERYTHING. He’s the first to discover that he can carry the bathroom stool around to be able to reach whatever he can get his hands on.
-First to scare Sage and Keiger (okay, me and Jacob too) just by throwing stuff at them. When he raises his hand to throw, all of our hands instinctively cover our heads to protect ourselves. He’s got a good arm. I often see Keiger or Sage running away from Finn and screaming, “He’s gonna throw that at me!” Finn’s also the first one-year old I know who likes to get hit by snowballs.

MORGAN
-Ran first half-marathon.

JACOB
-Took Keiger and Sage coyote hunting for the first time.
-First year without shooting an animal in 7 years. So sad.
-Ran his first half marathon trail races where he placed 4th and 13th overall.

THE WHOLE FAM
-First trip to Disneyland where Kei rode the Matterhorn for the first and probably last time. Traumatic.
-First broken well, boiler, refrigerator and toilet overflow/flood all in one week! Then the garage door broke for the first time 1 weeks later. We had to laugh about it.

Hope the first of 2011 is great for you! This has got to be the first time we’ve written such a cheesy letter! Much love, Jacob, Morgan, Sage, Keiger & Finn

A Mouse in the House! And some pumpkins, too!

Aaack! Yes! I was watching a movie the other night when a mouse (ugh!) scurried out from behind the T.V. stand! It took a couple of nights to finally catch it. I was still in bed when this lovely picture was taken--I would never have let the kids near the thing! Keiger thought it was sooo cool the mouse's eyes were still open in the trap. Yuck!

Anyway, October has been full to the brim. Jacob's grandpa passed away last week so he has been in Oregon for the funeral. The Primary Program was this morning. We got through it with no injuries so we can all breath a bit easier. The kids did great.

We've been busy each weekend with some fun activities. Last week, we drove into the middle of nowhere New Mexico to McCall's Pumpkin Patch. It was so worth the drive. What a darling place! It was like barn amusement park: hayride to the pumpkin patch, bouncy houses, rubber ducky races, petting zoo, corn maze, a big ol' trampoline jump thingee that I want in my backyard, and more. We could have stayed so much longer. It was so fun.

We had an "It's the Great Pumpkin Pajama Party" last week--made yummy caramel apples and listened to "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." Kids had fun and it got them hyped up to ride the "It's the Great Pumpkin" train in Durango yesterday. We met my parents and all boarded the narrow guage train and rode for about 30 minutes to an area where there were all sorts of games, music, trick-or-treating, and a pumpkin patch maze. When Keiger saw Snoopy, he literally bolted from us and ran right over to him. He was so excited. We looked hard, but didn't see the Great Pumpkin. Maybe next year. Poor Linus.

Sage is dressed as a dalmation, by the way. Yes, their costumes are fairly hilarious this year.

So Jacob and I went to our first adult Halloween Costume party this year. The theme for the costumes was "famously dead." Think about that for a bit. Too fun. Anyway, I went as the scandalous Cleopatra and Jacob made a great Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter. There were some great costumes, but seriously, by 10 p.m. I was so ready for bed! I can't handle late-nighters anymore--could I ever? We've been lucky to have a good year with pumpkins in the garden. The kids, Sage particularly, were excited to pose with some of them.