Off to see the Loughneys

Every year in early Spring Carter starts to get concerned because I haven't seen my sweet sister in so long, and he arranges a family trip to Reno.  While we're there, the fish just happen to be spawning in Pyramid Lake and so Carter goes fishing with his Uncle Glade and cousin, Scott.  It works out well for all of us.  I need to track down some pictures of them out there fishing on ladders in the lake, it's really something.    Here we are visiting the giant new Sheels store in Sparks.

We also had a nice picnic at the Marina.  It was just a short weekend trip, but we loved getting to see Amy, Todd, and their crew.  We love you guys!

Soccer 2011

Kyler and Shaylie were the only two kids who chose to play soccer this year.  They both had a terrific time and  showed great improvement.    I have a lot of respect for sports photographers.  I'm afraid I don't have a knack for it - I must have taken a thousand shots of the kids playing all the sports that come along, and I usually snap it just after the awesome goal, shot, kick, slide.  You name it, I miss it.  So these are the best I could come up with to remember their soccer season.  I was lucky to capture the child in focus and the ball in the same frame.

Kyler was fun to watch because he always has a smile on his face.  No matter what is happening in the game, he is just out there having a good time.  

For a girl who loves all things glamorous and fancy, Shaylie turned out to be quite the little scrapper.  She was always right there in the middle of the action.  Who knew??

Easter 2011

You can't help but love Easter...Springtime, chocolate, flowers, jellybeans...

We kicked it off with a fun Easter egg hunt with all the local cousins.

Next, since the weather was so nice we colored our Easter eggs out on the deck.

The sun was a bit blinding, as you can tell.  Jayden and Carter couldn't be there.  I love the pictures of Easter morning, sleepy kids in jammies shuffling around to find our breakfast.

Steelhead Trip 2011

Carter and brother-in-law Justin love their yearly trek to Stanley to fish steelhead.  They've never been disappointed and always have a blast.  I keep thinking I'd like to tag along and catch a really big fish, too, if I could come up with some way not to freeze my booty off.  I'm afraid I'm a warm-weather outdoorsman.

Play-Food Picnic

Spring 2011

The weather turned so warm and beautiful, the younger children decided to have a picnic on the back deck.  They spent a lot of time setting it all up, which was possibly more fun than the actual pretend-eating.  I just can't help treasuring these moments because I know they are growing so quickly and play-food picnics will soon be a thing of the past.  I wish there were a way to still let them grow, but also bottle their childhood.  Just look at these sweet little faces...

Even Ginny Cat showed up for some refreshments.

Jayden's a Turkey - I mean, Jayden's Turkey

April 2011

Jayden had a stellar hunting year in 2011, successfully hunting a deer, elk, and turkey, and probably spoiling him for more realistic results in the future.  But that's okay.  He's having a ball, and we're eating well.

RipSnorter!

April 2011

Springtime means getting the garden ready.

And getting the garden ready means burning weeds.

That means we get to make a "RipSnorter!"

A RipSnorter means we cook hotdogs, of course!

The neighbors contributed some of their hedge-clippings and kids came from all around.  We were the hit of the nieghborhood.  Here Jayden and his friend paused to read the Funnies before tossing them into the fire.  

Building a fire is a small thing but it sure brings people together and makes for good times.

Sidenote

Anyone who has been kind enough to check in with our family will have noticed that I haven't added anything for, oh... a year or so.  I have lots of reasons for that (a.k.a. excuses) that involve months of dysfunctional computers and my disorganized life.  But here I am, back in the saddle and ready to go again.  And I had to decide whether to just start from current life and go forward (probably the smarter choice) or to go back and catch up on the highlights of most of the last year.  (That's the one I chose, predictably making my life harder than it has to be.)  But my reasons for keeping a blog are two-fold:  to keep in touch with friends and family who care enough to keep tabs on us, and secondly, to eventually print up this blog into a nice memory book with pictures and journalling.  That is the reason I'm going to play catch-up.  So the dates on each post will have nothing to do with the dates things occurred for a while and my journalling may lack much detail due to my pre-alzheimers-like memory.  So if I'm boring you to death, please feel free to skip my blog for a couple weeks and then I'll be current again.  Optimistic, I know.  But I'm going to give it a shot.

Kyler/Daddy Date

Kyler earned a free game of laser tag at Wahooz as a reward at school.  He was sooo excited for Dad to go and play with him.  Being the middle child, I hope Kyler doesn't often feel lost in the shuffle, but since he isn't quite big enough to be included in the "manly" outdoors activities, he doesn't often get one-on-one time with Dad.  So we set the date and I drove Kyler over to meet Carter at Wahooz after work.  I quickly snapped this picture before I left them to their laser battles.  He was one happy kid.

Oh, The Places You'll Go!

During last school year they had a week celebrating Dr. Seuss' birthday. Each day the kids got to dress up based on some fun Dr. Seuss book. One day they wore all green (Green Eggs and Ham), one day they wore creative hats, crazy socks, etc. One day they were to dress up as what they'd like to be when they grow up (Oh, The Places You'll Go). My kids really enjoyed the whole dress-up week. Makenna knew exactly what she wants to be and she immediately asked Dad to bring home a white lab coat and some medical accessories because she wants to be a veterinarian. Shaylie was pretty stumped about what she should be when she grows up. In the past she has always proudly announced that she is going to be a princess when she grows up, so I was surprized that she hesitated. Heaven knows we have no shortage of glamorous princess dresses. When I asked her about it she sniffled, "But Mom, there are no princesses in the real world!" I was so sad - it felt like the end of her little childhood... But she quickly recovered with an idea that was so Shaylie I had to laugh. She said, "But there ARE real rockstars!" And then little Kyler was really stumped. I suggested all the things he'd ever wanted to be... a cowboy, an astronaut, a fireman. None seemed just right. So as a joke I made a suggestion that he ended up going with. He wore his nice church suit and his hair slicked back, and he emptied his allowance money into all his pockets so he jingled. He even put a couple paper dollars in his pockets. Then when anyone asked him what he was, he pulled out the money and said, "I'm a Millionaire!"

You're Gonna Miss This

Where is my other shoe????




This is one of those adorable little rituals which will be forgotten as the children grow, if I don't record the memory. This whole school year Carter has had trouble making it out the door on time because of this cute little game between him and Shaylie. Every morning she sneaks into his closet and finds where Daddy left his work shoes, then hides one or both of them. You'd be amazed how creative a five-year-old can be! Sometimes he finds one in the dryer, behind the computer, under a sink, in a flower pot... A time or two she hid them so well Carter never did find them and had to wear other shoes to work. On this particular day it was an easy find in the cat house.

Great Little Brains

Our school's PTA sponsors a Great Brain Project every year. The kids get to do either a research or a science project and then share it with their class and then the parents. They work very hard on these (well, we all do actually) so they like me to take pictures to remember them by.


Shaylie's report was on "Outer Space." She learned the name and order of all the planets and some other big words like constellation, galaxy, and solar system. In her presentation she explained how earth's rotation around the sun gives us day and night and seasons. She learned a bunch as she did this and she was so excited to share it.



Makenna continued her theme of studying our family's pets. Last year she researched cockatoo parrots. This time her theme was Abyssinian cats; her beloved Ginny. She learned that Abyssinians are considered descendents of the ancient Egyptian cats, which they worshiped and painted on walls of tombs, etc. She really enjoyed studying the mythical legends surrounding Eghptian cats. It was also interesting to learn how many of the traits that we thought were 'just Ginny' are actually typical of her breed. Who knew?



The kids don't get any extra credit for these projects, just a "Great Brain" badge and the fun of sharing what they learned. And some late-night one-on-one time with Mom the night before it's due. hee,hee. But I was proud of them - they did great!

Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland...

The weekend of McCall's Winter Carnival our family took a fun little day trip. We walked around McCall and enjoyed the amazing talent of so many snow sculptors. Then we headed to Cascade Lake for a little ice fishing. It was a gorgeous sunny winter day and we had a terrific time.





I love the bear peeking into the outhouse. We couldn't resist posing Kyler for this hillarious shot...


You know what they say... you have to kiss a few of these before you find your prince. Luckily I already found a keeper!








I realized I didn't even take any pictures of ice fishing. Carter and a couple of the kids did have poles in holes, but there was a lot more shooting, playing, and goofing going on. They would have paid better attention if the fish were biting, but it was an off day for fish I guess. Lots of fun playing on the ice, though.

Chinese New Year

I always meant to be one of those moms who plans cute little projects to do with my kids. And I do try, but it doesn't happen as often as I would like. But this year I found some time to play around with my two youngest on the afternoon of Chinese New Year. Carter and I both having served Asian missions, this holiday has a some special meaning. (Actually, it has meaning on two levels, because our first date also coincidentally happened on Chinese New Year and we went to eat Chinese food. The restaurant gave our whole group free drinks, and I pretended not to know how to use chopsticks because Carter was so cute trying to teach me.)

The kids and I made a nifty Chinese dragon and some lanterns. We hung them up over the table and we ate dinner with chopsticks that night.

Go Team!!

Shaylie was thrilled when I announced that I had signed her up for Columbia High School's mini cheer camp! Seriously, I think she may have hyperventelated a little.

She got to go to the high school and practice with the REAL cheerleaders three afternoons one week. They taught them several chants, some cute tumbling, and a dance routine. Then Friday night she wore her "cheerleading" t-shirt to the Columbia varsity basketball game and helped cheer! With all the mini cheerleaders she performed the half-time entertainment. It was the cutest thing you ever saw, and she couldn't wipe the smile off her little face.


Here they are dancing to "Wild Thing."


Our team is what? Dynamite!
Our team is what? Dynamite!
Our team is tick, tick, tick, tick, BOOM! Dynamite!


Shaylie is here on the left, holding up the bottom of the pyramid.