1st Day of School

September is the month that I plan on working on my blog (since it is a piece of my family history).  I have been gone or away from the computer & am getting ready to go again this afternoon.  (I am on staff at Wood Badge for Scouting.)

I was able to be home for the last few days & got the kids ready for the first day of school

Brienna is a sophomore this year--wow!  She looks beautiful!

She will be taking Driver's Ed this semester!  Wow!  It will be nice to have another driver.

Zane & his "Parry the Platypus" shirt.  Doesn't he look excited to be going to school!?

There I got a smile from my 8th grader.  Last year in Jr. High!

Callum is ready for 5th grade.

He is so lucky--he gets his dad as his teacher!

And can you tell I have a very excited 1st grader!  Emmalee couldn't stop grinning!

 She is so excited to be in 1st grade!

Breakfast at school--I might have to feed them before they leave since it doesn't look too filling! (donut, oranges & milk)

And of course Ben needed his picture taken too--at school!  He really wanted to go to school too, but when he found out I was heading home, he quickly joined me.

He has been doing puzzles & playing games for the last hour.  I think he is enjoying having all the attention again.

Now I've got to go & finish getting ready to leave for Wood Badge.  I'm not even packed!

Family Pictures Camping

Our family pictures while camping in Montana:

I'm still working on getting the pictures from camping edited and organized (I'm "down" to about 800 pictures)

I don't know if I'll post much in the next 2 weeks.  I am getting ready to leave for Wood Badge--I'm on staff & working hard to get everything ready & packed.

Ethan's Mission

My blogging friend (Sondra whose blog is here) asked where Ethan will be serving--she couldn't find the blog stating where he is going.

Since I don't label my blogs very well, I couldn't find the blog either.

I finally started clicking on the June posts because I knew it was one of them.

I finally found it, and it can be found by clicking here.

I don't know how old this map is, but this is the only one I have found on the Internet of his mission (California-Ventura).  It looks like there are 4 zones or areas.

And I finally received a couple of e-mails from Ethan today.  At the MTC, his prep day is Wednesday, so that is the day he can check his e-mail.

I was in town with the girls (& Benjamin) school shopping, so I wasn't able to respond immediately to his e-mails (if I had been home, we could have "chatted" back & forth for about 1/2 hour).

He is doing good, but would love mail!  He even hinted to some goodies--good thing we had already planned on making cookies & sending them out tomorrow!

Good-byes

 (since everyone was taking pictures, Ben had to find his camera and take some too.)

After Ethan said good-bye to the family, we took him to Wendy's for a quick lunch & then off to the MTC.  If you  missed those pictures, you can click here and here.

Family Pictures in Utah

We tried to get in as  many family pictures (and other pictures) as we could.

This is one of my favorites.

My 6 kiddos!

I think Ben was getting tired of all the pictures!

Ethan's cousin, Morgan & his wife, Dusty.

They just moved to Provo & instead of 9 of us invading their apartment, they came to visit Ethan at the temple.  (Ethan, Morgan, Dusty)

Ben is telling us:  Just 2 more pictures!

Provo, UT--Aug. 3, 2011

At the Provo Temple waiting for  the time to drop Ethan off.

 The family walking to the temple.

 Me & Rusty taking a break.

 Aunt Pamela & Ben in front of the temple by a water fountain.

 Benjamin

Emmalee eating a piece of her candy necklace (it must have been sour).

 Ethan & Brienna

 Ethan & Zane--doesn't Zane look thrilled!

 Got a smile out of Zane with the handshake!

Callum with Ethan

Ethan holding Emmalee 

 Ben's "smile" face (more of a scrunched up face)

Aunt Pamela with Ethan

Rusty, Ethan & Me

We Cleaned Today

Zane mowed the lawn, the kids cleaned their rooms, I put away the shopping from yesterday, and worked on the laundry.

 I cleaned out the 2 freezers above the fridges.  And then Ben & Emmalee took everything out of the fridge & put it on the table.

 And then they scrubbed the fridge while I went through the food.  I threw a lot away, and combined what I could.  I had Ethan's food (condiments) from college, plus the camping food in addition to what we had in the fridge.

 That is a lot of food!  I didn't get the outside fridge cleaned (yet).

 Emmalee & Ben liked washing it out.  Brienna cleaned the door & shelves while I scrubbed the bins & cleaned my washer & dryer.

Ben thought this was a fun "game".  (Earlier he had eaten a fudgcicle--can you tell?)

Our fridge is nice & clean.  The outside fridge won't be nearly as time-consuming to clean.

Now I'm off to vacuum, sweep, & mop (although Zane & Callum both want to mop).  That might be a "fight" in itself--who gets to mop?