Year Supply

Logan took a few random pictures - I loved this one of Brenly

Before we boxed all our canned goods, I sent Logan into the shop to take a picture. We canned all sorts of great things for the upcoming year - we did apricot nectar, peaches, pears, tomatoes, grape juice, salsa, applesauce, apple pie filling, and marinara sauce, but not all at the same time. But I did feel so blessed and thankful to get it mostly all done before we left for our big vacation!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Greg turned 33 this year! We had a nice relaxed birthday. His parents came over for dinner, FHE, dessert, and some soccer outside. We are so thankful for what a great husband and father Greg is!

First Pack Meeting

With Adam in scouts, he got to go to his first pack meeting. Since he had earned his Bobcat, he got to drink "Bobcat blood"! He let us know it wasn't the best thing he had drank! It was sure entertaining to watch though!

Our Cub master mixed it for them right before their eyes - throwing in some "mouse droppings" and other tasteful stuff!

Adam pinning on the bobcat pin!

Joy School

We started another year of joy school for Brenly. She loves being with her friends, and it's fun to do. The other moms and I decided to go low key this year, and just do it every other week - I really like it!Nicole

Audrey

Ashlynn

Brenly

Troy

Football Starts!

It was an exciting season opener - and boy did we have a party! We got together with a lot of ShaRee's family and had a swimming party/barbeque at Greg's parents' house. It was really fun to watch the excitement of all the kids - and the adults!

Great Grandpa's Birthday

We had such a fun weekend with Greg's Grandpa! It was is birthday, so Jeff and ShaRee and us went up to spend the weekend with him. We had a yummy dinner and then had Greg and Jeff distract him while we decorated and lit the cake. All the kids hid and then jumped out and said, "Surprise!" He loved it! He is so fun to be around with such a witty sense of humor!My favorite was when he told about a guy that went hunting and ran into a bear. He immediately knelt down and prayed, "Please help this bear to be a Christian bear," and when he opened his eyes, the bear was kneeling down as well saying, "Please bless this food that I'm about to eat"! We were just laughing!

Awaiting the surprise!

Biking the Greenbelt

We love riding our bikes on the Greenbelt - it's one of our favorite activities. This time our awesome friends, Lynsie, Trevor, and Avery, came with us. We enjoyed the fish hatchery, and having lunch in the park.

You know it's been a good outing if this is the end result!

We took a little break and waded in the river - I love these individual picts!

cLynsie and me!

Logan checking out the fish!

Lincoln and Avery seeing the sights

Here's amazing Greg again - packing Mayzie in front, and Lincoln and Brenly in back!

At Home

These are just some fun pictures of the rest of us at home. We have laughed at Greg's comment of how he thought number 5 has been harder than the rest. For me it's been great, but mostly because Greg has been home so much! So he has just experience first hand the craziness that comes with having a new baby, and even just the craziness of being home! Greg has been sooo helpful though - he is often holding Mayzie while reading and doing his homework, so that I can do the other chores around the house, and take care of the other children!

I love these guys!

Brenly and Lincoln really have a lot of fun together!

First Day of School

I can't believe we're to another school year! Summer flew by! Adam is now in 2nd grade, and Logan in 1st! The first day of school is always exciting!

Blue Lake

Some may call us crazy, but we took our family on a little backpacking trip when Mayzie was only a few weeks old! It was a great experience- although I know Greg was wondering why in the world we would put ourselves through that, but we were so glad we did it! We went with Justin and his family and Jeff and ShaRee and their family. The kids were just thrilled! They were singing and having a ball with everyone! So it was a mile hike down to the lake with all our gear. Greg and I feel in the way back since I had to feed Mayzie. Greg was superman - carrying a huge backpack load, plus Mayzie in the snugglie on his front! Lincoln was cracking us up the whole way down. He would trip and fall a couple times, and would just start laughing! He was a treat to have with us! We were moving a little slower than everyone, and didn't quite know which way to turn when we got down to the lake, but luckily the campsite they chose was right in the middle, so we found everyone. How can you lose 15 kids anyway? So we set up camp and enjoyed our little snacks and a fire. We all slept so well! Mayzie looked like a little snuggle bunny - she actually slept better than ever that night! The next day, we had our granola bar breakfasts, and then we literally climbed the mountain! All those little ones did it too! I was so impressed! Greg even did it with Mayzie - I'm glad we got some pictures to show that we were on the top of the world, looking down on creation. It was great. We even found some snow! The bigger kids climbed all the way to the top and across the ridge even. We played some more games that afternoon, and then started the trek back up a mile. We were wondering how it would be with Lincoln since he hadn't had a nap. Well, it started out a little treacherous - he started crying and wanting to be held. It' s a little difficult to hold a two year old and a huge backpack up hill! I held him for a little bit, but then told him it would really make me happy if he would walk. After a few minutes, he said, "hold hand" I asked if he wanted to hold my hand. He said he did. So I put him down and he held my hand. He then said, "Mom happy?'' I said, "Oh, yes honey, that makes me so happy!" He was such a good trooper. We were slow moving, as he would stop and sit and play with the rocks every couple minutes. He said, "feed hurt" That awesome two year old - plus our others - had literally hiked up a mountain twice in one day, and with little complaining. But we certainly couldn't have done it without our awesome Dad who carried most of the load, and then some! It was wonderful being out in nature though - nature with family is about as good as it gets!Lincoln was so covered with dirt, and was making the funniest faces!

I love these two pictures - a sudden change! I hope I was the one that made the difference!

Amazing hikers!

Greg was certainly the super trooper!

Can you believe we climbed this?

Lincoln was so funny on our hike. He had a little stick and would say, "hike, 2, 3, 4"

Cute Bren!

Off we go - up the mountain!

Here's our little snuggle bunny!

Such cute girls!

Little fishermen!

Here's the crew before we embarked down the mountain!