Snow Days!

The last 2.5 days of school before Winter Break were cancelled because of snow and ice! Our local forecast for the next week even predicts snow every day. It's been lots of fun for the neighborhood kids, who consider the trampoline to be all-season fun!

Watch out, Annika wants to throw a snowball at you!

Annika's 7th birthday!

Since Annika's birthday was on Thanksgiving, she had her party a couple of days early. Her friends that came were Caitlin, Kaci, Breana, Jake and Lorelei.

Opening presents - this card said something like, "It's grape to be your friend!"

This is from Annika's real birthday - We made her a cake later, but Annika wanted to blow out her candles on a pumpkin pie!

We had our ward's "It's Great to be 8" Baptism Preview a couple of weeks ago, and Annika is getting ready to be baptized next year!

It's a 2001 Oldsmobile Alero coupe

Julia has had her car for a few weeks, but it took a while to get some photos of her with it...


She's especially enjoying the freedom of not having to drive the family minivan!

Annika's Jack-o-Lantern

Our neighbors behind us have a huge garden, and their granddaughter invites Annika over to play sometimes. A couple of months ago, the girls (well, the grandmother) carved their names into pumpkins that were still on the vine. When Annika's pumpkin was grown, they gave it to her.

As you can see, I attempted to get a picture of Steven helping Annika carve her pumpkin...

Annika loves her pumpkin (and her brother, for helping her with it)!

Meagan and Annika's matching dresses for Rob & Rachel's wedding

...and if you're reading this and you're not LDS, the answer is NO. No polygamy here.




Here are close-ups of the pearls at the bodice and hem:

This cracks me up...

BYU Game

Rob, Julia, Steven, and Rob's parents went to the BYU/Washington game last Saturday!

BYU won, of course, 28-27.

First day of first grade

Annika's first day of school was on Wednesday (9/3). She says her favorite thing about first grade is that she gets 3 recesses!

Wednesday was also Steven's first day of 7th grade, but I wasn't sneaky enough to get a picture of him! For Steven's 2 electives this year, he is taking 2nd year band (alto sax) and Spanish.

Julia is going to Clark College full-time, so she doesn't start school until 9/22...but she does get to start 6am Seminary on Monday! She has worked out her schedule so that she has Seminary from 6-7 and then Clark classes from 7-10 (total of 15 credits), so she is done with school at 10am every day (except for Mock Trial and Book Club...)

Annika likes to earn money

Annika is very proud of her lawnmowing skills!

Annika's summer

Annika has had a fun summer hanging out with her neighborhood friends. She even invited them to a Primary Activity Day! The Primary President called Annika a missionary.

Here they are yesterday, eating apples on the porch swing.

Then it started raining, so they came inside to make a Pool Table Fort!

Brief heat wave

We had a 3-day heat wave here about a week ago, where temperatures were above 100 degrees. We went to Home Depot to get a pool part, and there was a big sign on the door, "OUT OF AIR CONDITIONERS!"

From left to right, here's Julia, Annika, Steven and Rob in the pool at about 10pm!

Funny Annika

Annika is at that age where she is easily lured by prizes. If I ask her what cereal she wants, she will go for the box with the biggest "Free Prize Inside!" label...even if she doesn't like that kind of cereal.

Yesterday, she saw a 12-pack of pop that said "Caffeine Free" on the box. She asked Julia, "Where is the free caffeine?"

Annika's Swim Lessons

Annika is taking swimming lessons for the next 4 weeks. Here are a few photos of her in action (in case you can't tell from a distance, Annika is the one with the tan...)!

Working on the back float:

I guess the one with the biggest kick splash wins...

The whole class...

Julia's Summer Camp

Julia left on Friday for her 10-day Academy of Law and Leadership in Denver, CO. She got to spend Friday night at Reid & Cindy's house. She's having a fun time so far!

Road trip, 4th and final post

A note about the slideshow below - click on the slideshow at any time to see the photos full-sized.

On Tuesday, we did the 90-minute tour of Minnetonka Cave. Then, we went to the Paris, Idaho park to have a picnic lunch. Here's Annika, Braiden and Preston at the park:

Then we went back to the lake! Here's Steven and Grant (I think) on the canoe:

On Wednesday morning, we drove home. Annika was wiped out!

Road trip part 3, Monday night FHE

Road Trip, part 2!

Here's the view from the cabin, with the kids playing out in the field:

Sherril and Bryan brought a really great piñata, and the kids had so much fun with it! They lined up by age:

Annika vs. the piñata:

It's all about perspective - it looks like Steven is about to hit Ashten instead of the piñata...

Julia's turn...

On Monday morning, we went to Bear Lake. Reid & Cindy brought their canoe, strapped on top of their Suburban, all the way from Denver. Here's Steven and some of his cousins, enjoying the canoe:

Here's Steven in the shallow water:

Annika loved to search the beach for "seashells" (Rob kept telling her they were snails...) and put them in her cup. We now have a large baggie at home full of snail-shells that I'm trying to figure out what to do with...

Rob, Steven and I took a run on the jet ski. Towards the end of the ride, Rob took a sharp turn and we all fell off. Thanks to Julene for the next 4 photos:

Here's Julia on the jet ski with Uncle Bryan, Daniel (and Hannah on the back):

Annika on the beach:

Steven at the beach:

In case you can't tell, the look on Rob's face says, "I didn't mean to dump you off the jet ski, dear, really!"

Road Trip, part 1!

On Friday, June 27th, we left early and arrived in Twin Falls, Idaho in time to swim in the hotel pool and hang out with Grandma and Grandpa Hamilton, Frank's family and Shawna's family (didn't take any pictures, though...)

On Saturday morning, we drove to SLC and got to see Grandma & Grandpa's new condo. Annika went swimming with grandpa in the condo pool. Then Rob took the kids to Raging Waters, which is only 6 miles from the condo, while my mom and I visited Liz at LDS Hospital.

On Sunday morning, we went to Music and the Spoken Word to watch grandpa sing in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. We got lucky - it just happened to be the week they were singing patriotic music! Here's a view from our seats in the front:

Then we went to the hospital to visit Liz. Here's Liz, in the styling new shorts Monty bought her, with her daughter Monica and husband Monty:

Here are Steven, my brother Reuben, and Julia hanging out on Monty's rollaway bed:

...and here's the whole room...

Then we went back to the condo for lunch. Here's a photo of everyone (except my mom, who took this picture). Do you see that river in the background? That's the view from their 2nd floor condo balcony!

Steven and Grandpa:

Annika and Grandpa:

This is getting too long, so I'll write about Monday and Tuesday in another post!