A Young Woman Now!

Kailyn turned 12 last month!!!!!!! Trav told her she can date when these candles are turned around the other direction. We had family over for a big birthday brunch since Gav and Jen both have September birthdays as well. Super fun and we got super full!!!!! With Stake Conference, General Conference and a small Sunday emergency Kay didn't get to go to Young Woman's until last Sunday- she is thrilled to be out of Primary and part of a Beehive class with 23 girls! I took her to the doctor last week and she is 5 foot 5 and a half which is above the 95 percentile for her age. Another inch and she will be as tall as me!!! She is still the sweetest girl on the planet and I love love hanging out with her. She is getting straight As in all of her classes both at home and at HomeLink and working harder then I have ever seen her work. She is running and playing her guitar and playing volleyball and seems to be enjoying every minute of it. We are so happy to have this baby girl in my life!

Trav with his big brother and little sister

triple citrus cheescake! YUMMY!

we has some serious food and eating going on!

why yes I am a dork!

Back to School

I have some cool stuff to blog about but I feel like I need to do a little catching up first!!!!
(sorry I skipped Tyler's 19th birthday- the camera battery was dead so I don't have any pictures but I think he had a good birthday and got some cool stuff- only one more year as a teenager! Wow that makes me feel old). I also have so many pictures from all of our travels and visiting over the summer but if I blog all of that it will be Christmas by the time I catch up!!!!!! So I am skipping it- the pictures are on Facebook if you really want to see them.

Anyway here are my cute kids on their first day of school. 

JUNIOR YEAR!!!

 I can't believe she is in 6th grade! It almost breaks my heart!!!!! And please ignore the huge pile of unfolded laundry in the background (even though I am pretty sure it is still in the same place)

we are still homeschooling- she is just taking four or five classes through a special program for homeschoolers- she goes once a week to the class and then does all the work at home.

Sweet? 16

In June Allias turned 16! He was pretty bummed this year on his birthday. He was wishing we were back in North Carolina where he could have a HUGE party with all of his friends. I think because of how sad he was we kind of (really really really) over compensated in the gift department.
 Not sure if that was the right choice or not but I did have fun shopping lol- he got clothes and a hat and sunglasses and movie tickets and treats and some very very nice basketball shoes
Allias is fiery and determined and whoaaa hard headed and I imagine ( really really hope) those qualities will serve him well someday- especially with the direction the world seems to be going.

nothing says lighting birthday candles like a blow torch!

the candles were pretty much liquid by the time he blew them out!

he needed a BIG bowl!

sometimes I seriously wonder about this family!

I wish I could remember what that card said- Kailyn picked it out and it was pretty hilarious!

Miami!

REESE'S!!!!

Probably the most expensive shoes I have ever bought. for anyone. ever.

                        My handsome 16 year old! He was soooo happy to have his haircut! He can't stand when it gets shaggy. We keep waiting for him to ask someone out on a date but it hasn't happened- he is ever so slightly picky when it comes to women so we shall see!

long time no post!!!

Our summer was grand and I have an almost empty bottle of after sun lotion to prove it!I haven't taken the time to blog like I should but I want to get back into it- mainly to preserve the memories- my kids are growing up and I am starting to forget some of the little details- the little stories and cute things they said pop up here and there but they aren't part of my every day memory. I decided to give up all the time sucking addictive games etc that I play and I want to focus on what matters most. I am going to start a notebook where I write down the memories that come to mind. When a story pops into my head I want to write it down so it isn't lost forever.

I have a little catching up to do with all that happened this summer but to start here are some amazing pictures of Allias cresting Mt. Adams.

Allias didn't want to go- he has been fairly depressed since we moved to Washington. He was determined to have a miserable summer and didn't want to go to Youth Conference, Trek or the High Adventure hiking trip. I told him he had to do two of the three and so he reluctantly chose Youth Conference and the hiking trip.  Well when the time came to go hiking he said he wasn't going. We decided to give him an ultimatum and told him that if he didn't go on the hiking trip he wasn't going on his beloved yearly trip to Lake Tahoe and he said fine. We were totally shocked and really quite sad but we felt like we had to follow through on what we had said and hold him accountable for the commitments he had made.  He literally fought us on it until two nights before he was supposed to go! It took a call from my uncle with the cabin in Tahoe to finally change his mind.

Needless to say we had to rush around and get him everything he needed for the trip.

He promised us he was going to have a terrible time no matter what. He told us if he had fun he would give up basketball for a year lol- we didn't hold him to that.

He ended up being the first one to reach the top and one of the last ones down on the ending day because he was helping one of the boys who was struggling to glacade.
All of the leaders said how happy they were to have him on the trip and how impressed they were by him. They also assured us that he had a "terrible" time.
There are a ton of pictures and I couldn't decide which ones to cut out so you get to see them all! They aren't in order but hopefully you get the picture!

getting ready to go!

on the way up

view from the top!

taking a break

another view! So amazing!

glecading down

wow!

this picture really shows how tiny the boys were on that huge mountain

happy to be at the top!

I think this was taken either on the way to or the way back from the mountain.
 I can't believe Allas was on the top of that thing!

base camp!

clean up

They camped out up on the mountain one night- there were 35 mile per hour winds so the boys didn't get much sleep. They had to be up bright and early the next morning for the final climb to the top!

king of the world!

this one is my favorite!!!!!

at the top!!!!