Annual Pictures Take 2

We headed back up the canyon on Sunday after church to get the rest of the kids pictures. They did so well, much better than in past years, and we were able to knock out all the pictures in a relatively short amount of time. It always feels so good to know pictures are done. Because of Kenny's busy work schedule these pictures haven't been edited yet, but here is the rough shot of the ones we liked and are going with.

The kids with snow in the background

Adam Age 3

Daniel Age 4

Gracie Age 6

Hannah Age 7

Ben Age 9

Sarah Age 11

Great picture with no head swapping. It's amazing how well the kids did.

Here are a few of my favorite other pictures taken from that day. I sure do love my kids.

Daddy and Sarah heading across the river to get Sarah ready for her picture.

HaHa! One of my favorite Gracie pictures.

I don't know why, but I love this pictures of Dan.

Annual Pictures Take 1

Daddy was being funny with the otter.

After not getting pictures of the kids in September we knew we needed to get some fall pictures instead of summer pictures. When Kenny got back from his trips he was crazy busy at work (working 12-14 hours a day) trying to get the next class up and working. When the end of October came we realized we needed to make time, despite his busy schedule, to get the pictures done. The fall leaves were quickly going away and we were running out of time. We headed up Big Cottonwood canyon to see if we could find some leaves and some good places for pictures. Our favorite spot up this canyon is Silver Lake so we decided to see if we could get some pictures of the kids there. When we got there we discovered all their fall leaves were gone and there was a little snow on the ground. Not really what we were looking for. We did try to take a few pictures of the kids there. We got a pretty good one of the group and some great ones of Adam. The kids did well and we we're thinking of going back up when the snow really comes to get a family Christmas picture.

Such a cutie!

3 is a great age. If they're in the mood kids can be so fun to take pictures of.

After taking a few pictures of the kids at Silver Lake, we headed down the canyon a ways and found a great trail that had some nice spots for pictures. By the time we got there the light was not good for pictures, but we scoped out some good spots, Kenny took a few practice shots and we decided to come back the next day. I'll show the finished pictures on the next post.

Hannah and Adam being silly with our otter puppets.

Trying Some Kids Pictures

We took the kids put American Fork Canyon in September to try and get some pictures of them before Kenny had to head to Texas and DC for work. We found a great old amphitheater that we thought would be good for pictures. It was a great idea, but we were a little late when we got there and the sun and light was gone. Kenny took a few practice pictures while the kids played. I'm sure we'll head up there next year.

There were cool step to use as a background. The kids enjoyed playing on them.

Cute Hannah

Sarah helping dad by the stairs.

Hannah on the steps of the amphitheater.

First Day of School

They're all ready and excited for school to start.
I can't believe I have 4 kids headed off to school this year.

We were lucky enough this year to get put on D track at school. This means that the kids were the last ones in the school to start. All other tracks started on July 25th but my kids didn't have to start until August 19th. They ended up with 6 weeks of summer instead of only 3 which was really nice. Hopefully we'll be able to move before the end of the school year so they won't have to go to school all the way until July 3rd. Yuck. Anyway, school started August 19th and the kids were very excited to go back. The first day of school is always fun and exciting. 

Sarah 6th Grade Mrs. Grainger

Ben 4th Grade Mrs. Herrick

Hannah 2nd Grade Ms. Ulrich

Gracie Kindergarten Mrs. James

Dan and Adam Preschool with Mommy
I'm so excited to have some time with these fun little guys.

Dan and Adam wanted to be in a picture too. I'm one lucky mom.

Biking With Friends

On April 23rd the kids headed over to the bike trail with some friends. It was so much fun to watch them all biking around, gooffing around, digging, and climbing. I'm so glad our kids have been able to find some good friends here. (If only Sarah was able to find some friends.)

Most of the trails. I wish I'd had one of these when I was a kid.

Alex was really shocked. He didn't think he could do this.

Kobi headed down the trail with the others waiting their turns.

Ben riding down one of the hills.

Ian surprised, and happy, that he made the dip.

The 2 Hannah's. They not only share a first name, but they share
a middle name too. When you're 6 and 7 that's pretty cool.

The Boys:  Alex, Ben, Charlie, Ian, and Kobi

Dan and Adam spent their time picking weeds, I mean flowers, for me.

Adam picked mostly weeds, but I didn't mind.

The dip with the bridge over it. Scary, but soo fun.

The other Hannah riding the trails.

Sometimes the kids would take a break and play on the hills.
Here they are trying to build a fort.

This kid cracks me up. He's always got a goofy face on.

My Hannah riding.

Kobi coming out of the dip.

Hannah brought a book in order to take a break. Funny thing is she can't read it, it's
 too hard for her, but Kenny and I had no idea. She was really good at pretending.

The kids taking turns on the trails.

Sarah coming out of the dip. This was huge for her. She was so scared
of it, but she did it anyway. I'm so proud of her for conquering her fears.

Really Late Turkeys

Every Thanksgiving for the past few years we've been making cookie turkeys. I got the idea from Hannah's speech teacher when we lived in Idaho Falls.  The kids love doing this and look forward to it every year.  Because our Thanksgiving plans changed last minute this year, we weren't able to make the turkeys on Thanksgiving as planned.  I was planning on making them over Thanksgiving weekend, but we all had the stomach flu and cookie turkeys were far from my mind.  So on the 12 of December, we finally got around to making our turkey cookies.  It wasn't the same, but the kids still enjoyed it and were glad they got to make them.

Ben having fun designing turkeys.

Hannah's turkey.

Adam didn't care too much about making the cookies, though he did enjoy eating them, instead he just played while the other created interesting 'turkeys'.

Gracie showing off her turkey creation.

Dan putting frosting on his cookies. This was the first year Dan really enjoyed making the cookies.

Sarah wasn't too into turkey's this year.  She preferred to make her own creations.