Our Annual Campout

As school comes to an end, it means it is time for our annual camp out. This year our camp out was minus the camping out. ;) It has been so cold and rainy that there hasn't been a dry night to do it. If it was up to the girls they would have slept out in the rain. Thank goodness Adam and I get to make that decisions! The camping out thing will have to happen at a later date. We decided that we would still do our campfire with roasted hot dogs, marshmallow's, and star burst. Adam introduced us to starburst a few years ago. He went to a fathers and sons campout and found out you can't have a campfire without starburst. Ever since then it is a must. I have wondered if this is a total Utah thing? It was so cold out that even being around the fire wasn't warm enough. Everyone had a blanket and listened to each other tell silly stories! I love that our little family has already formed special family traditions!

Softball

This is Kourtney's last year playing for the Badgers. She moves on to a new league next year. She enjoyed this year a lot more than last. This has been a difficult league since most of the other players come from an accelerated team. We have enjoyed seeing her improvement over the season!

Kaitlyn entered a new league this year and has thoroughly enjoyed it! She loved being able to hit the ball from a "regular" pitcher. Boy, can she hit the ball! She has adjusted well coming from coach pitch. It's definitely a crazy time of year for us with three of us playing, but it sure is fun!

Forever Friends!

One of the highlight's for Kourtney this year was having the opportunity to help and spend time with Juliette. She is six years old and in Kindergarten. At the beginning of the year the principal approached Kourtney and asked her if she would be willing to play with Juliette during the Kindergarten recess? Because she is so small there were many things that she would need a little help with. Kourtney was all for it! Throughout the year Kourtney has made a wonderful and lasting relationship/friendship with this little girl! She has had many struggles throughout her six years of life and has stamped a permanent mark on Kourtney's heart! One of Juliette's favorite things to do was swing. Kourtney would pick her up, sit her on her lap and spend the recess swinging together. I talked with Juliette's mom the other day and she expressed how grateful they were that Kourtney would sacrifice her time in helping their daughter. She shared how nervous she and her husband were about putting her into school but knew that it was important for her to have a normal life. It put her mind at ease when she found out that there were people who would help. She told me that they knew a lot about Kourtney from what Juliette had shared with them and that it had made such a big difference in their daughters life. On our end we feel the same way! Juliette has been the center of many of our conversations. She has such a sweet spirit! Isn't it wonderful that it doesn't matter how big or small you are or how old you are? What matters is how big your heart is!
Doesn't that smile just brighten your day?!

The End of Elementary School for Kourtney!

Elementary School has come to an end for Kourtney. It seems like yesterday I was walking this little girl through the front doors of the Elementary school for her first day of Kindergarten. There were tears then and there are tears now. Now seven years later she is now moving on to bigger and better things. As parents, we can't say enough good things and express how proud we are of Kourteny! She has put a lot of hard work and time into her school work and it has really paid off. About a month ago I received two different a phone calls (one from her principal and the other from her teacher) that Kourtney has gone above and beyond in everything she has done. They called her the perfect example of a student striving for excellence! They told us that she had been chosen and would be presented with the "Terrific Kid" award, that would be presented to her by the Rotary Club during her graduation program. We decided not to tell her, so she would be totally surprised when the representative called her name for the award! She was! She also received the Service Award, Honor Roll Award, and Student of the Year for her class. Her teacher this year, Mrs. Waite is absolutely fabulous! She is a dear friend and who I truly admire! We are so proud of you Kout!

More/better picture to come from Matt. :)

Graduating 3rd Grade!

Another year has come and gone. This year has flown by! I'm sure I say that every time, but it really has! Kaitlyn has done so well! She really enjoyed school and spending time with many of her friends. She has experienced some new things this year. She has learned how to write in cursive, multiplication & division, participated in the Hershey track meet, and had to come up with a business and sell goods. We have seen a lot of progress in Kaitlyn this year. Her report cards say the same thing! Congratulations Kaitlyn!

Kaitlyn with her friends, Shilynn & Isabel.

The garden expansion

We finally managed to get the garden planted after all the rain that has been falling. We have seen nine days of straight rain and cold wind. We are being told that the state in under major flood warnings. Thursday there was a break in the rainy weather so I went out and roto-tilled the new garden area. We realized last year that we needed more room for the garden so we took part of the play ground area and turned it into garden space. With a garden comes a lot of work, but work that can have a big pay off, and I can't wait! I love gardening and love to see what it can produce after just a few months. I wanted to make more square foot garden boxes but financially it wasn't going to happen this year. I decided to use stock fence and posts thanks to my brother to trellis my tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, and cantaloupe. I hope it works. We also planted a grapevine but I'm not sure how it will do with the birds?
List of plants and seeds:
Tomatoes (regular, Roma's & cherry)
cucumbers(reg & pickling)
summer squash
zucchini
bell peppers
jalapenos
Anaheim peppers
cantaloupe
romaine & red leaf lettuce
beans
peas
broccoli
cabbage
onions
cilantro & a rosemary bush

I hope this takes off! I am really looking forward to increase my food storage!

Joining the Circus!

So the girls had an idea that they would try and teach Harley how to do a few tricks. They gathered their hula hoop and a few of Harley's toys to entice him through the hoop. It was quite comical watching all of them. Kourtney and Kaitlyn held the hula hoop while Makell dangled the dog toy in front. After a few successful runs, Makell said, "We could be in the circus!" "Harley could jump through the ring of fire!" Oh the imagination of little ones! After thinking about it, there is really no need to join the circus, because we live in a circus! :)