Madelyn turns 12!

Look who's 12! 

Madelyn and I have had a fantastic week! We just spent it together at Girls Camp. Her birthday fell on Saturday the day we came home. Before leaving I had told Kory where all her gifts were so that they could be wrapped and ready for her when we got home. Kory turned the job over to Hunter. He got a little creative and made opening gifts a lot more fun!

Look at that huge box! What could possible be inside it?? 

Why a huge plastic tub full of smaller boxes!

Inside the Go-gurt box was some muffin mixes Brayden pulled out of the pantry to wrap for her. 

What was inside the wipe box? 

Mascara wrapped in wrapping paper.

Can't believe this girl is going to start wearing make-up. 

Saved the best box for last.  

Another box inside a box!

Boy did Hunter do a good job at prolonging the expense. 

This was what she was desperately hoping for. 

Her very own iPod.

Happy, happy birthday my sweet loving girl! 

1st Year at Girls Camp

This year something amazing happened. It was Madelyn's 1st year at Girls Camp. If that wasn't exciting enough I was called to be the Camp Director. Making it my 1st year at Girls Camp as a leader. Oh the fun we had!

We had a total of 13 girls. Seven of whom are inactive or non members. It was so fun to get to know each of these young ladies. 

We left Wed morning and came back Sat morning. 

The stake had plenty of activities planned for us during the day. We had games, crafts, canoeing, zip lining and hiking. In the evenings we were blessed with amazing speakers that taught us to "Come What May and Love It". 

Camping with these fun girls brought back memories of my own time as a young girl at 

Camp Stimpson.

I was a little worried when I first accepted my calling. I have been in Primary almost since the time we've been in this ward so I didn't know the leaders or the girls. I was also worried Madelyn wouldn't be able to enjoy herself with her mom there. But by the end of the week I couldn't believe how quickly the time had gone and fun we had all had. I wasn't ready to go back home and neither was Madelyn. We had a great time!

Madelyn turned "12" on the last day of Girls Camp. For fun we bought a pillow case and had all the girls in our  camp sign it so she would have a fun "memory" of her 1st year at Girls Camp. What a fun way to spend a birthday!

Lake Powell 2016

We were able to go to Lake Powell again this year with our friends the Goodfellows. Goodfellows are really good about inviting anyone and everyone. This was the biggest crowd thus far.

There were 6-7 families with 4-8 kids each the entire 3 days we were there. The kids always had someone to play with and as adults there was plenty conversation to go around. 

Madelyn and her friend Jaelyn.

Daddy helped Kylie have a turn on the paddle board.

Taking some much needed shade time! There's always plenty of sun at Lake Powell.

Brayden taking a turn in these huge balls.

Hunter and his friend Payton. 

Emily and her friend Braelyn.

Emily with more girls.

Jaelyn and Madelyn.

Go Maddie!

3 days of sunshine and fun.

I love our time here away from everyday life. No work, no phones, no internet, no intertuptions!

Just fun, fun, fun!

Kylie is 4

This beautiful girl just turned 4. 

She is so stink'n cute!

With all the rain we've had one of her siblings decided to get her a new umbrella.

Happy Birthday little one.

Can you guess who her favorite princess is right now?

That's right... Elsa and Anna from Frozen. 

This girl is so much fun! She loves to play with her Elsa and Anna dolls

. She loves to play outside with her, big brother, Brayden. She loves the color purple. She likes to play with play doh and help mom in the kitchen. She loves cooking time!

Little Piggy Opera

Brayden's school class put on a play for their parents and the other 1st grade classes.

It was called the 3 Little Piggy Opera. 

Brayden welcomed everyone to the play and then played the part of a little piggy.

Super cute and he loved it!

After school this seems to be the "new" thing to do.

3 skate boards and 5 little boys all about the same age. 

They start at the top and ride down as a train!

It's crazy how quick they get going. Sometimes they stay together and sometimes they loose a member of the train. 

So fun! So glad this little boy has friends to play with. 

Brayden turns 7

 Brayden turns 7 oh my!

My baby boy is growing up.

He requested crepes for his favorite breakfast. Was happy to lick the cream beaters.

School isn't out quite yet so we had his birthday party at 6:30 a.m so everyone would be around.

This little man of mine has worked so, so, so HARD on his reading this year. He has made great progress. I had bought this Ugly Animal's book for him at Christmas but I knew it would still be too hard for him to read. Four months later the book was pretty easy for him to read. He loves to read books about real animals!

One of his siblings bought him 2 light sabers for his birthday!

Since we had a lot of time before he had to catch the bus he got ample time outside trying out his new roller blades. He's been using an old, too big, broken pair of Hunters. The rod that keeps the wheels inline was broken so Brayden all on his own stuffed a pencil where the rod went and then duck taped it on so the pencil wouldn't slide out. For several months he has used those broken blades. We've gone through lots of pencils!  

He loved his new blades!

So happy this little guy of mine loves to be outdoors. 

Brayden requested a King Cobra cake.

Eeek!

First time making a snake cake. I learned a lot and would do several things different but Brayden loved it and that's all that counts. Besides that I'm always my worst critique!

I love his "pondering". He's thinking about what his wish should be before he blows out the candles. 

Happy Birthday Brayden!

Brayden loves to be outside playing with friends.

He loves riding his bike or wearing his roller blades.

When inside he loves playing with legos and army men. 

Lots of time he builds forts outside using rocks and sticks for his army men.

Brayden loves school. He loves his teacher and has become quite the little reader. 

When 1st grade started he was reading on a mid kindergarten level. He was very behind. With lots of work he now reads at the beginning of a 3rd grade level. When he heard his teacher say this he took it to heart. He's now telling everyone he's skipping 2nd grade because he's in 3rd grade reading. Brayden loves to read books about sharks, lizards and snakes. If he tells a story about these animals chances are he's correct. There's been a few times we thought for sure he was making up stories about the way a particular animal looked, what he ate or what the name was. We'd "google" it and find that he was 100% correct. This kid has really learned some interesting facts in all his readings this year. When he grows up he wants to work in the ocean with sharks.