Lately...

It's official... Jared is going back to school! He starts in a couple of months and will be doing an MBA program at the University of Washington. Go Huskies! (unless they are playing BYU of course.)



Linsey finally got her brace off. Woo-Hoo!

She is thrilled not to have to wear that contraption anymore, however she still has to be careful about her activities. No monkey bars, no cartwheels, no biking or sports for another month or so. It will take a good 9 months before her bone is as strong as it was before the break.

Here is one of her X-rays taken a week after she broke it.
And here is one from last week.
You can see how the bone is growing all around the break forming a big knot of bone. You can feel the lump if you grab her arm. It is a little weird.

The doctor says over the next couple of years, her body will most likely remodel that bone and it will become straight. That's good, because while we were warned she would loose a little length in her arm, we were surprised at how drastic it ended up being.
I'm not sure how well you can tell in the picture, but her left arm is definitely shorter, especially when she does this.

And in other random news...
We went to the fair last week. I forgot my camera but we got a couple pictures on Jared's phone.

Austin LOVES his binky, maybe more than any of my other kids did. I love this picture, two at once and if you look closely, he's got a third in his hand... just in case.

Grandma Jeanne let Emma borrow her flat iron and Emma has been having lots of fun straightening her hair, well I do it but she wants me to do it all the time. I love her curls, but it is fun to try something different. It just makes her look so grown up.

The kids are enjoying school. Emma is home during the morning which works out perfect. Austin has someone to play with although he's forced to do whatever Emma wants.
I'm not sure how long he'll put up with this kind of torture.
And, that's a little bit of what we've been up to lately...

Tooth Removal

Happy Birthday Hunter!

Hunter celebrated his 8th Birthday on Saturday. He said it was the best day of his life!

We started off with a yummy breakfast and finger lasers for everyone!

He opened a few gifts and then we headed off to his soccer game.

But first he had to show us a trick on his new skateboard.

After a quick lunch, we headed off to the roller skating rink for Hunter's party. He and 11 friends had a blast! Several times during the party Hunter told me it was his favorite party ever, he was having so much fun!

We also had a raffle. The boys earned tickets if they wore blue, came with crazy hair, had the heaviest gift, etc. Hunter is the one with the afro blowing out candles.
Some of the kids packed their gift bags with phone books and rocks to make their gifts heavier. We had a tie for the heaviest gift, 10.6 lbs.
I think Hunter's highlight of the party was when he won first place in the speed skate race!
Here he is at home displaying all of his new gifts! He really was thrilled. It was a great day, he had a wonderful time skating with his friends, and his gifts were all so perfect.

Check out this car that follows a laser and drives up the wall,

and even on the ceiling.

And what little boy wouldn't love a pair of night vision goggles?

He even got his own fishing pole.

And that is why Hunter said this was the best day of his life!

We sure love him!

It's Official..

Summer came to an abrupt end.
The weather changed.
School started.


Here is Linsey, heading off to 5th grade.
Her outfit almost completely hides what is left of her brace. Hopefully she can take that off soon.

Hunter is in 2nd grade.

Can you tell Emma is excited about going to Kindergarten?

And what could be more exciting that getting to the bus stop and realizing your favorite friend is wearing the same outfit. What are the chances of that? (And no, Tara and I did not plan that...neither of us knew we had both bought the same outfit for our girls.)

It's official, we are BACK IN SCHOOL!

Fishin'

Jared posting here.

As many of you know, one of my primary hobbies in life is fly fishing. As I've gotten older I've moved from fishing every chance I get to saving up for a couple of big trips a year. I still sneak in some smaller stuff during the year but I plan and save up brownie points for the big stuff. I really love going in the fall when the water is low and the crowds diminish.

A couple of weeks ago my brother in law, Chris Butler, took a trip up into BC, Canada to fish for Bull trout. The pictures he brought back kept me awake at night dreaming of how I could get up there. We already had a family trip planned to Coeur D Alene and the river was only an couple hours from there. I talked to Chris and we figured out how we could squeeze in a one day bomb-it-back-and-forth-mountain-dew-fueled-ten-hours-of-fishing-madness-trip. Here are the results.

The big ones are Bull trout. The smaller ones are actually really big cutthroats but they look small compared to the bullies. The river was amazing. We saw no one the entire time we were there. It did take us driving five miles on some REALLY treacherous roads but it was worth it. Plus, it wasn't my car.

Thanks for a great trip Chris!

One last trip!

Summer has been great, really great! We were able to end it with one last trip to visit the cousins in Coeur d'Alene. Here they are from youngest to oldest.

As you can see, Austin wasn't all that cooperative. He was a little turkey but we managed a few pictures anyway. (I think I'll wait a few more months to schedule a photo session for family pictures though.)


We did lots of fun things, but the real reason for our trip was Zach and Savannah's baptisms. We are so proud of them for making the decision to be baptized and it was neat to be there to support them.

I tried to get a cute picture of Zach and Hunter, and Linsey and Savannah for a little gift I'm working on.

or maybe I'll use this one.

They have always been close and I hope their friendships continue over the years to come.

Emma and Gavin wanted their pictures taken too.

Now, we get ready for school to start... tomorrow.