Stuff

Adam-8th Grade

Eric-7th Grade

Jessica before her ear surgery at 7am

Jessica after surgery. She was NOT happy! This is her 'happy face' smile. Totally fake.


Matthew's favorite thing to do:

Craig came home from church & was helping with the dishes. This is the apron that he grabbed out of the closet, Emily's. A little small don't you think? It did the job though, I guess.

Jessica feeding her baby her bottle. Actually, her eye is getting fed.

Tired girl! Holdin' on for dear life!

This is Emily with Justus. She claims to be his girlfriend & they are getting married & having 2 babies! Ask her. That's what she'll say. They really are best friends! They have NEVER had a fight or gotten sick of each other! They're so cute & best buds!

This is what happens at home when mom & dad are away. At least they protected his forehead with paper towels. That was nice, don't you think? Matthew actually ASKED the boys to do this. He thought it was so funny! SERIOUSLY! They used the whole roll of Duct Tape! I thought it was kinda weird that they'd take pictures of it. Evidence! This picture cannot leave this blog!! We'll have CPS after us for sure. LOL Don't look at my messy pantry. =)

Kirtland, OH

Kirtland Temple

We decided to take a family trip to Kirtland, Oh. in August. We had never been there as a family & it's only 3 hrs away. So, we invited the Warners (of course) & headed out. Emily rode with them in their car, we got 15 minutes away & she was already asking when we would be there. This was gonna be a long trip! Emily & the Warners played the 'quiet game' a lot! LOL Emily didn't know what that was, so she was interested in that! She actually won a few times & got really good at being quiet-for once.

We stopped at the Kirtland Temple Visitors' Center. This is church owned & had a really good feeling there! The missionaries that were there told us to take a picture like this:
I thought it was really neat & so did the boys.

Adam

Eric

Kids in the Visitors' Center

Eric, Emily, Jessica, Matthew & Adam

Once we got to our hotel & got settled in, the kids HAD to check out the pool! They had a nice pool with water spraying & everything. It was great! We swam quite a bit.

Our Hotel Room

Craig & Matt

At the Pool

Silly Emily
We saw the Kirtland Temple. It was different than the temples that we use today. It isn't owned by our church, so there are guided tours through it. We definately didn't feel the spirit there, but it was nice to see it & know the history a little better. Then, we headed over to see the town of Kirtland that was built when Joseph Smith was there. It was neat to see all the things that were built so long ago & what they were used for.

Inside the Temple Museum (not church owned)-

Yes, they're illegal photos. oops! I didn't see the sign until afterwards! Honest.

The Town of Kirtland

The N.K. Whitney Store

Inside the Storehouse

The Ashery

The Revelation Room-Revelation was given in this room

many times for some sections of the Doctrine & Covenants

The Lumberyard

We ate out quite a bit! We came home from this trip & made a vegetarian meal from our garden veggies! I didn't want to see another hamburger for a while!!

Emily at the 'Steak & Shake' that we went to 3 times!!

Jessica would NOT stop hugging & kissing Emily. Too cute!

Lisa at the restaurant

We were able to meet Anne & Jesse & the kids in Ohio (somewhere) They were out for a reunion while we were there. So, we met in the middle & got to chat & have DQ at a park. It was nice to see them!

The Record Family

The Crouch-Thorpe Family

Anne & Jesse

Cousins

Sisters

We just HAD to stop along the way home & get some fireworks in Pennsylvania.

Craig with his illegal fireworks!

Jessica's 1st Birthday

Well, I don't know where the time went....It seems to have flown by!! Here's an update on our family. I'll try to do better at keeping up with this.

Happy Birthday Jessica!

Our littlest sweetheart!

Jessica turned 1 on August 1st. She had a great party with lots of family & neighbors! Our neighbors are the Warners, who are also our babysitters who just so happen to be our Bishops family!! Anyway, we see them a lot & knew they'd want to be a part of Jessica's special day (they adore her!) So, we had dinner (Jessica's favorite-Chicken Alfredo -Adult "ified" macaroni & cheese really!) Then the Warners came over & we did gifts & cake.

I made a daisy cake for her. I thought it turned out cute.

She got a couple of pairs of shoes, clothes, a baby doll & a farm magnet set.

She had a great time! We just let her take her time & play & eat cake.

It was so cute to see her so excited over everything!

She is such a sweetie! We love her so much!!

Funny Face

Oh, I love those cheeks!!

Farm

We often tell the story how Katie used to cry every night. She'd cry when we tucked her in bed because she didn't live on a farm, she only lived on a garden!

On Labor Day we visited Tom's dad's cousin & his wife. They have a real farm. They have sheep, cows, llamas, and rabbits. We enjoyed an evening sitting out on the lawn. It was like having beautiful landscape paintings all around us, but it was real. Real rolling hills in the background of fields covered in wheat, barley, sagebrush and sheep.

Before, during and after the hamburgers, the kids chased the bunnies and rabbits. We were told that anyone who wanted one could take one home. We did have an empty hutch and a full bucket of food. So we decided to keep one. Katie chose the smallest. He was quiet and cuddly. He looks like a gray rock, the kids named him ROCKAFELLER. Then the next thing I heard was the farmer saying the bunny already looked scared and lonesome. He asked me what we could do about that. Well, I said, "we ought to leave him here then or take another so he won't be alone." Yep, he needs a brother or sister to go home with him. And we were promised they were exchangeable and completely returnable. So the kids chose a beautiful golden bunny with extra large ears that bounced when it moved. We named her GOLDILOCKS! And then planned on calling him Mr. Goldilocks if she turned out to be a boy. But she's a she.

They aren't Mini Rex's, like our first bunny. Or fancy Netherland Dwarfs, or English Lop Ears. They are FARM bunnies. REAL TORGERSEN FARM bunnies. We even buy their food at the FARM STORE. They are going to be big.

Two weeks later. My neighbor Karen, called and told me to come get some zucchini. She lives on a farm and grew a huge garden this year. After loading the car full of zucchini, her granddaughter handed me a kitten. Karen said, "Oh and the kitten too Amy, you have to take him home, he's yours." I looked down at his big blue eyes and said, "okay." He was cute. Earlier that day I had one of those moments where I realized that life is short. Do you have moments like that? I couldn't believe that in 4 years Kevin will be 19 and could be gone from home. My kids are growing up and I haven't done everything I planned, I never let them have a cat. Plus, he's a REAL FARM cat. Now our farm can be complete.

Katie doesn't just live on a garden.

That's Tristan getting a bunny out of the hutch!

At home with 3 farm animals

Out in the back yard, see the hutch in the background. Oh, and our red barn.

It's a farm.

Summer Fun!

Ok, when I got on here & saw that the last date that anything was posted was in April, I just had to post something!!

So, here's an update on us. WARNING: This may be REALLY long!!!!!

Well, we finally closed on our property down the road! It is 1.7 miles from our house now and it's 107 acres. We call it the "Hundred Acre Woods" (Get it? Like Winnie the Pooh!=)). Craig has been busy over there making a driveway/road so we can access it a little better. It was really soggy & muddy before. It looks great now. Not perfect, but getting there. Before, when I would ride back there with Craig on the 4-wheeler, I would lift my feet as high as I could so my shoes & legs didn't get muddy. I don't have to do that anymore. =) Anyway, we're still looking for that perfect house plan. Haven't found it yet. We thought we had, but it wasn't really what we wanted. So, every night we spend an hour or so looking through our many house plan books, trying to decide. I'll take a pic of the property so you can see it. It's pretty woodsy & overgrown right now, but it'll be nice & secluded!

Eric turned 12 in May & received the Aaronic Priesthood. He is now old enough to pass the sacrament, which seems really strange for some reason. Wasn't he just a baby a little while ago? Wow, time flies.......

The boys & Craig took their annual fishing trip to Michigan at the end of May. They always have a good time. I worry about them the whole time they're gone, but they always come back just fine. I don't hear about the bumps & scrapes until they get home, so that's just fine. I got a lot of things done while they were gone. I planted our whole garden, so Craig wouldn't have to when he got back. He was very surprised! I also painted our kitchen (just touch ups. Craig had 'touched it up' with the wrong paint color, so I fixed it). I also sanded the whole Mudroom, painted some curtain rods for Emily's room, painted a shelf & organized all of the kids clothes. I felt so accomplished!! I sure missed my boys though!

The Gang

Craig & the boys are on the right

Jeremy (friend) & his boys are on the left

with their grandpa (Ron)in the middle.

Doing what they do best!

My Triathlon training is going well. I'm feeling more like I can actually do this!! I did a Mini-Tri yesterday. Which wasn't really mini. It was more like the real thing minus a 2 mile run. We did a 1/2 mile swim, 13 mile bike & 1 mile run. It was really HARD!! I only had to stop 2 times on the bike ride (because I thought I was going to puke!) So, I thought that was pretty good. I was so tired afterwards! I got home & took a nap. When I woke up I thought "there's no way I could have done what I just did, 3-4 months ago". So, then I felt better about how I did. I've lost about 20 lbs since starting the training in April. I still have 20 to go.


Summer is in full swing & we've done a bunch of fun activities as a family. I love the flexibility of Craig's work. He's been able to come with us to just about everything!


Last week we went to Roseland Waterpark. It's a park with waterslides, lazy river, wave pool & a splash park (like a playground with water). The waterpark is right in Canandaigua (15 min) & we've never been there! It was so much fun! Some friends of ours were in the Hill Cumorah Pageant as a family & they had the day off of Pageant stuff, so they came with us. The week they were practicing for pageant it was like 95 degrees out with 95% humidity. It was smoltering!!!

Craig going down the crazy slide

Adam going down the crazy slide

Wave Pool

Matt by the splash park

Me & Jess waiting for everyone to get off the waterslides

We also went to a Civil War Re-enactment last weekend. Again it was 95 degrees & 95% humidity!! The boys loved it! They thought it was pretty cool! It was actually so hot there that we went & sat in the a/c car & cooled off before we went back in to finish looking around. We got some pretty good pics of the soldiers, fighting, cannons & the wounded.

A soldier asked the kids if they wanted to wear a uniform for the pic.

It was so hot, but they really wanted to.

SOoooooo HOT!!

Watergirls

The Hill Cumorah Pageant just got over with last weekend. We were able to go 2 times this year. We actually brought a non-member the first time we went & the boys each brought a non-member friend the second time. I think they had a great time. I didn't get too many pics. It was getting dark out.

Christ coming down to the children

Last week we also had a hot-air balloon land in our backyard. It was pretty exciting. At first we thought they were going to hit the cell phone tower. It was pretty scary! Then, they ended up landing in our backyard. We got to watch them deflate it & pack it up. It was quite an ordeal!! The kids thought it was pretty cool too. We took video of it landing. We didn't have the other camera out then. So, we got pics of them deflating it.

deflating the balloon

deflating it

packing it up

waiting for them to load it up

The Basket

Loading the basket

Sparkling Cider for everyone

Well, I guess we're considered farmers now....We have chickens. Does that mean we're farmers? We call Matthew the chicken farmer. He's in charge of making sure they have food, water & hay. We got the chicks when they were 3 weeks old & have raised them on our own. They aren't dead yet, so that's a plus...lol We won't get eggs from them for another couple of months though. So, we're just waiting.......

Chicks

They're much bigger now

(stinkier and not as cute)