Halloween Carnival Pics

Baptism

Guess who turned 8 this year!?  We were pleased to host grandparents and cousins for Caitin's baptism and birthday celebration. 

 

To begin with, I present TROUBLE:

The baptism went well.  Caitin was gorgeous in her white dress.  The good news was that we only had to dunk her once!

 

After the service, we took over the gym for a little piñata bash!  Sarah's got her work cut out for her teaching these girls to keep their eyes open when they hit.

 

 Although, Ralph needs no teaching.

We later went home and enjoyed cake and ice cream and a few presents.

 

 

Thanks for coming everyone!

Fourth of July Backpacking

We didn't want to be the only people who didn't have 4th of July plans so Brandon wanted to take the girls backpacking.  This was also one of the dares on Caitin's summer dare chart.  Here are the girls with their own packs.  

Brandon got the heaviest pack, but it was his idea in the second place.

We got a cozy little camp site about 1/2 mile down the trail.  It really wasn't very long but far enough away that we didn't go back to the car.  Here we are roasting smores, and no Caitin's isn't on fire.

Brandon saw these bats at dusk.  It was pretty neat to see them right at the edge of the lake.

 This is where we set the bear bag.  I guess Brandon was a bit worried but didn't tell us that, thank goodness!

 

Bead Lake is about an hour and fifteen minutes from our house.  It has beautiful water and is really peaceful and quiet.

 

So the funny story behind this is that we always go to Priest Lake in search of huckleberries, but never find any.  Well guess what we found not even trying? 

 

THIS IS A HUCKLEBERRY!

 

This is a huckleberry bush.

This is one really AWESOME patch of huckleberries!



 We picked for about 30 minutes and got four snack-size baggies full.  If we'd known what we would find we would have brought buckets.

This is how our girls look when they wake up.  Got to have the morning hot chocolate!  Notice that I'm not in the picture.

 

We hiked some more in the morning and found this huge tree with this rotted out trunk.

 

And of course the girls wanted to swim in the lake, which turned out to be pretty chilly.  That's where the girls' great dad comes to the rescue.  I'm too wimpy to get in cold water when it's chilly outside also.  They had fun for about 15 minutes.

 

Here is Jamie showing Brandon her "star float" she learned in swimming lessons.

 

It was a great adventure for us and the girls had fun.  The hike back the next day was a bit harder for Jamie but we made it home and in time for swimming lessons.

Before Camping

We decided that to be able to enjoy our basement more effectively we needed a couch.  Sitting on a hard chair to watch movies wasn't cutting it.  I saw this sectional at Costco and the first time it sold out fast.  When I saw it the next time I made an executive decision and we bought it.  However, it was the day we were leaving for camping that it was bought, and it obviously had to be in the house before we left.  Luckily, Brandon fit it in the truck on one trip and his tie-down capabilities were amazing!

This is a picture of the many configurations that this couch can do.  The main reason we bought it was that each piece is separate and we could fit it downstairs that way.  We didn't even have to take down the railing.  A regular sectional with a couch-size piece wouldn't fit past our kitchen.

Here are five of the eight pieces (one ottoman is in the opposite corner so you can't see it).  This is downstairs along with the recliner.

These two chairs add a nice little addition upstairs, along with the armless chair in the next picture.  We now have room to seat six people instead of four.  That makes me happy because we like to have people over for dinner and it makes for more comfortable chatting afterwards.

 

We couldn't be more pleased with this purchase.

Hooray for the USA!

Can you guess the gymnastics theme for this year?   Jamie had her end-of-year performance last Thursday and she did fantastic!  Let me tell you, it was a lot more tolerable to sit through than Caitin's whole dance recital (2 hours).  Not because Caitin's was bad, it was just LONG.

Here is Jamie doing her Jump-squat.  She improved so much throughout the year.  Jamie finally ended up being able to pull herself up and over on the rings for a "skin the cat."  I was super excited the day she did it because it was the only thing she couldn't really do.

 

This is Miss Rachel and Jamie.  She was great with the girls and they all became close friends.  Jamie can't wait to start it up again but we'll see how all day Kindergarten goes first before jumping into after school activities.

 

Ballet 2013

 

Caitin has been in ballet for the past 8 months or so.  At the beginning it was painful how un-graceful she was.  She practiced a lot, and greatly improved!  We're proud of her dedication to the class, and how much she put into it.



For the record, this is one of the most expensive 2.5 minutes of my life.  Not counting all the months of lessons, just the show cost around $150.  AND we got to sit through nearly 2 hours of dancing before viewing this little gem.  I think we may be finished with dance classes.  I don't know how some of these people stick with it...

By the way, this is what happens when you put Jamie and Me waiting around in an auditorium with only a camera to keep us laughing:

That Time of Year

Our first trip to the lake this year was sweet!  I don't think Caitin is ever going to relax on a tube again...but we still had plenty of fun in the sun.  We've even got the pink skin to prove it.  Remind me to re-stock the sunscreen.

 

2013 School Programs

Caitin and Jamie each had school programs this year that were pretty fun.  Jamie was in preschool with high school buddies.  They seemed to be on the same page when they awarded Jamie the "Brainiac" and "Future Valedictorian" Awards.  She's definitely ready for kindergarten, but she already misses these buddies!



 

Caitin's 1st grade program was all about bugs.  They all dressed up as various bugs (which we discovered was needed at the last minute the night before) and had a great time singing songs about insects, spiders, and doing the "worm dance".  It was really a lot of fun to watch!

 

By the way, we love having school so close that we can walk to everything.  It's gonna be a big change next year as they remodel the school, cause both girls will get to ride the bus to the next closest school.