The Pioneer Update...

You saw the before picture of Sydney getting ready to go. Here is the 'during' and 'after' picture!She had the absolute BEST time! She was put with a great "family" and they laughed and worked hard! They walked 16 1/2 miles the first day and just got 2 biscuits and a tin cup full of broth! Each family killed 2 chickens for dinner, had a run-in the some Indians, the Mormon Batallion was formed, and when the men were gone, the girls had to push the handcart uphill. They decided to sleep under the stars every night, but on the last night, it rained so much and they got soaked! They all got up and sat around the campfire the rest of the night. They had a hodown (how do you spell that?) and played pioneer games. The rest of the time they hiked only about 5 miles the rest of the day. The Pony Express even came and delivered mail to them. She smelled like a big campfire and was pretty sunburned when she got home. She was sooooooo dirty!She didn't even wear the bonnet I made for her because she was afraid to get it dirty!!She was right! Thanks Syd, but that is what it was for!!! Kallie is so excited to go in 4 years. Sydney wants to do it again too. There were 14 families with about 13 people in each. She made some good friends and she'll always remember this experience!

The Pioneer

So, this is Sydney at 4:15 Wednesday morning getting dressed to leave for the Trek. She wasn't too thrilled I took her picture. When we got to the stake center all the kids were in their pioneer clothes and looked great. As we are walking up to the group she says, "I am not a big fan of this bonnet or this dress. I don't think I want to go anymore." Well, she instantly met up with a girl she knew from camp and she was a little apprehensive too. This girl thought her dress was too big. It was fine. Sydney and this girl get along really well and have fun together so I am glad they were together when they left. Anyway, all day yesterday I was thinking about Sydney and what a great experience this is for her to go. Ok, I worried a little about her too! Today and tomorrow I hear they are camping and doing alot of fun stuff. I'll let you know how it all turns out when she gets home on Saturday!

Brace yourself...

Have you ever before in your life seen a 4 year old and a 7 year old lift a table and chair over their head unassisted????? It is so effortless for them- they are smiling! This is how we spent our morning- practicing lifting things. I told Josh he's probably so strong because he ate 3 waffles with peanut butter on it this morning and drank all of his milk. Amazing.

Planets...

Josh loves learning about the planets. I even taught him the names of the planets to the tune of the primary song that teaches you the names of the books in the New Testament. My mom also made a solar system out of paper lanterns of different sizes all painted and labeled and they hang in the playroom. He has this huge book my Papa got at Costco about planets and he's always checking out books at the library on planets. So, this morning he says, 'you know... Pluto shares the orbit with Neptune'. So matter of factly. Ok, I really don't know much about the planets. He's a genius.

Lookie...Lookie!

Look what I found!!!How many of you are jealous?haha it's ok, raise your hand, if you want!! I am just kidding! I can't wait to see what New Moon is going to be like! I was excited to find this and add it to my blog!!!We are officially counting down!!!Can't wait!

Momedy...

So, I talked to my friend Candace today and she told me about her friend's amazing blog that she has. I love a good blog, so I checked it out. It is so amazing that people are now paying HER to advertise on her blog. Check it out- the link is on the left! It has so much on it and links to some really great things! How does she do it? She's a busy mom of 4 and has a million things to do just like the rest of us! That's it. I am dropping a few things today so I can read her blog.

By the way, she named it "Momedy" because she says being a mom is like being in a comedy because so many funny things go on. Hence, "Momedy".

The One Shoed Boy...

So, like every other Sunday Jason and I tell the kids to get ready and make sure they have everything they need. We tell Josh and Averie several times to get their shoes. VERY often Josh either cannot find his church sandals or doesn't say he can't find them until we are actually in the car. Up until this point we have allowed him to run back in and find them. This time he located one under one of the seats in the van, but couldn't find the other one. Of course we were all in the car ready to back out. So I made an executive decision and told him, "you are going with one shoe or no shoes". Off to church we go and he is searching high and low for the other sandal that I KNOW is in the van somewhere. We get out of the car and we go in and he goes in with only one shoe! He felt lucky that his pants were long so he could hide his other shoeless foot. I should have had him wear his other pants that weren't so long! On my quest to teach him a lesson in being more prepared, he says after church, "I wasn't embarrassed at all! Noone asked me about my other shoe, except Nathan Wilson that said, 'eeewww! Stinky!'"

There is a nursery tale that we used to sing all the time when Sydney and Kallie were young that reminded me of Josh. Can you guess what it is? It goes like this:

Deedle, deedle dumpling, my son John

Went to school with his stockings on

One shoe off and one shoe on

Deedle, deedle dumpling, my son John!