First Day of School!

Eva started kindergarden and Colby started 1st grade.



Waiting in line to go in to class.


An after school shot


School pictures (pictures of pictures)



We did Fall soccer this year, the kids had a blast.

Lilia


Eva


Colby


In November Eva got into a charter school, which was quite miraculous I guess! It's really hard to get in, they do a lottery each year. This year was a little different because they opened an extra kindergarden class, so they somehow had room for her. If you don't get in in kindergarden it is almost impossible because siblings get first dibs and there is only a couple of openings in each class every year. It's a great school, and Colby was picked in the lottery for 2nd grade! Yay! This is Eva's first day at her new school.

Summer 2011

Well, here I am.

Last summer we spent a couple of months at my parents' cabin in Cascade. It is so stunning, it's hard to believe we have access to such beauty such a short way from home. Even growing up in Idaho, I guess it's something I'll never get used to.

Jason came up a night or two each week and then was there for the weekend. I think I will always feel a special connection to Cascade because of the summer of 2011.

Cascade had a summer reading program through the library. Each week they had an activity at the park. They focused on a different country each week. My kids each got a t-shirt and a backpack. It was the highlight of the week.

Becky & co. came down for the week before the 4th of July. The kids played outside and enjoyed each other's company. We had so much fun we decided that it has to be a tradition from now on. My brother and his family moved to Spokane. More close family, yay! They got there just before the 4th, unloaded their moving truck, and then drove the 5 1/2 hours down to Cascade to be able to sit on the golf course and watch the fireworks over the lake. (Gorgeous, by the way. It's my favorite way to enjoy fireworks.)

After that the kids and I spent a week in Pocatello, where I suffered through 3 root canals. Joy. Not. But I will survive. We also made a trip to SLC while I was visiting to see my friend from TX, Megan. It was so great seeing her and Makena!

Then it was back to Cascade for another month. In August it was another family gathering! My sister Leslie and brother-in-law Alex came to visit and brought my newest niece, Lola. Norah, Lola, and Ila (destined to be BCF-best cousins forever) got to meet up! They were born between January 2011 to June 2011. They haven't seen each other since, but I'm hoping they will again this year over the 4th.

We didn't plan on being there as long as we were. However, when buying a house in this crazy economy, you never know when it will all finally fall in to place. We had a stressful time of it all, and closed a month and 10 days after we initially hoped to. Luckily we were in to our house before school started, and that was really what I was concerned about.

We had 2 weeks to enjoy the neighborhood pool. It was pretty fantastic, something I would have really liked to have available in Texas, but I'll take what I can get!

Now for the pictures. There are about a million, so I apologize ahead of time, but I have problems cutting down.

Field right off the deck.

Our friends came up to spend a few days with us.

We drove up into the mountains when the Binghams were visiting. The day after we were swimming at the lake.

Miss Jo

Story time

We went to a church picnic on the beach and didn't put the kids in suits because we thought it was too cold. Instead they went swimming in their clothes. Take a closer look at Elliot. :)

Maggie, Naomi, and Lilia

My grandma and Ila

Greatest float in the Cascade 4th of July parade

Colby teaching grandma how to play DS.

Ila and Norah

Sitting waiting for fireworks

Cousin time

In-N-Out in Utah with Megan and Makena

Hogle Zoo

Tina, Emma, and Jake came for a visit

One of our trips to Boise for a work party

The most amazing view.

Rodeo/Fair in Cascade

Back to Boise for good. Some quality daddy/daughter time.

Into our house!!! YAY!

Lola, Norah, and Ila Jo

Cousins at the cabin

Western Idaho State Fair

The neighborhood pool.

Jason and his dad pulled up all the weeds covering our backyard, put down sod, and killed the hundreds of bees/wasps. Real manly work.

Sweet Jo again

Enjoying having a real backyard of their own again!

After thinking back and looking at all these pictures I almost want to live in Cascade for the summer again. Hmmm....

Psych Marathon

The girls and I are prepping for the season 6 premier tonight.

Feeling Uplifted

I've watched all sessions of General Conference but the Saturday afternoon session, so I missed this talk. My friend shared it on Facebook this morning.


Children by Neil L. Andersen


I especially loved this quote:

[Growing] up in this culture, it is very hard to get a biblical perspective on motherhood. … Children rank way below college. Below world travel for sure. Below the ability to go out at night at your leisure. Below honing your body at the gym. Below any job you may have or hope to get.” She then adds: “Motherhood is not a hobby, it is a calling. You do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps. It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for.

I have always struggled with feeling lesser somehow, definitely judged, almost irresponsible, by having 4 kids so close together. It was so nice for me to hear this. It's okay, and it was the way our family was meant to be. It also makes me feel a whole lot better about considering a number 5, crazy as the world (and friends and family and husband!) will think I am. It also made me realize I don't take motherhood seriously enough most of the time. It's like I always have a measuring tape out and get after my kids about things that aren't really all that important. I worry too much about small things and don't appreciate them for who they are right now. I need to work on that, I need to focus more on loving them and not reprimanding them. Feeling loved no matter what is the greatest gift I can give them. It'll be a work in progress my whole life, but I need to make some leaps right now while they're so young and impressionable.


Read. Be strengthened. Enjoy. :)

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