Isaiah is 3!

Yesterday we celebrated Isaiah’s 3rd birthday! It was a pretty cold day so we spent it mostly at home inside. To make it more fun we set up a tent in the basement and all snuggled in to watch some movies. We played games and went out for pizza for dinner. 

Isaiah is so fun to have around. He makes us smile a lot. He will often talk about something or someone he loves. And he likes to put things on his head – not always hats. He and Caleb play all day together while Enoch is at school, and most of the time they get along great. They pretend a lot and love to run around in the back yard, swing, dig in the sand box, and ride bikes. He’s a very easy going little boy and loves to just tag along and do everything his brothers are doing, or at least be by them making trouble for them.  

Happy Halloween!

The kids had a fun Halloween again this year. My friend and I put on a party for the neighborhood kids in the afternoon, and after dinner we took the kids out to a few houses for trick-or-treating. Duane wore his costume all day at work (and ended up being the only one to dress up.)

 

Crazy Hair

A couple weeks ago Elsie woke up with some crazy hair!

Elsie

 

Elsie at 8 1/2 months old.

Cub Scouts

Enoch is loving Cub Scouts. He rides the bus to the church every Monday after school for his den meetings. He earned his Bobcat badge and was awarded it along with a BB Gun belt loop (from summer day camp) at last month’s Pack Meeting.

The Kids

October 24th

Elsie is 7 months old

She’s sitting, and rolling all over the place. She grabs at everything within reach and puts it in her mouth. She laughs and smiles a lot, and is generally content, unless Mommy tries to leave her with a babysitter. (She’s going through a clingy phase.) Caleb loves playing with Elsie, and is usually the one most likely to be found rolling around with her on the floor.

First Day of School

Enoch is now a big 3rd grader! He loves his teacher and school so far. He gets sad if he has to miss school. He is an incredible reader and it’s a challenge to keep enough new books in the house for him to read!

 

 

Elsie is 6 months old!

 

Elsie is now 6 months old and she is so much fun! She’s rolling over some and can sit up by herself pretty well too. She grabs everything within her reach and chews on anything she can get. She has a very happy disposition. Her brothers really enjoy playing with her and making her smile and laugh. We’re so happy to have her in our family.

Land of the Red Rocks

A few weeks ago we took a Saturday morning and hiked up a local trail. It is just above one of our local parks. It is nice to live in a beautiful place.

 

 

 

Minnetonka Cave

While vacationing at Bear Lake earlier in July, we took an afternoon and went to Minnetonka Cave just over the Idaho border. Some interesting facts: it’s a 9 room cave (it was huge), 444 steps down and up and down one way into the cave (that’s why we carried the two little ones), 40 degrees year round inside the cave (notice we have jackets on), 1/2 mile walk into the cave, Minnetonka means “falling water” (there is water dripping and flowing in the cave). It was a fun hike and the kids had a great time. (We took our nephew Samuel with us.)

 

Entrance to the cave.

 

 

Waiting for the tour to start.

 

Going down……

 

 

 

One of the long stairways inside the cave.

 

There are some huge rock formations inside the cave that have taken hundreds of thousands of years to form.

 

 

 

At the end of the pathway into the cave.

4th of July

For the 4th we did the usual things: a parade in the morning, activities at the park after that (Duane was in/out of a dunk tank for an hour), BBQ, and back to the park in the evening to see Polynesian dancers and fireworks. (Enoch’s missing from the pictures because he was at Grandma’s house.)

Baptism and Blessing

On June 30th Enoch was baptized and Elsie was blessed. Here are a few pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bryce Canyon National Park

We are also blessed to live only 90 minutes from Bryce Canyon National Park. At the end of June, Duane had a two day conference there. So while he was in meetings I took the kids hiking in the park. (If you ever take four kids hiking by yourself, expect a lot of comments from others on the trail!) Other things we did (that I didn’t take any pictures of) were have a BBQ dinner, attend a rodeo, swim at the hotel pool, play at the city park, and attend a dinner and show at Ebenezer’s Barn and Grill.