The Week of August 18th

We had a lot happen this week. My folks came out to visit for a couple of days and it was great! It was really nice to see them and to get all the food storage done. The kids loved having Papa to wrestle with for four days straight.


Then Cam, my Dad, Hyrum, and Paige all went to shoot for little while one day. Hyrum decided he was going to take and shoot his pretend shotgun, but he still had to wear the real ear muffs.


We also went out to our friend's the Jensen's to see their new baby Alpaca. He was sooo cute and soft. The kids thought it was great fun to play there for awhile.


Hannah discovered she loves truck books just like Hyrum. I thought this picture was funny because she is holding the book upside down. But she just looks so darn big!

Paige's First Day of 1st Grade

(Here she is in front of the school that was built in 2002)
August 25th was our first day of school here and Paige was really excited to start as a full-time student this year. She has been working hard all summer on keeping up with reading and math and is loving been back with all her friends. It's just really weird to have her gone all day long! We only have a four day school week here so they go from 7:30 am to 3:36 pm. So far we have transitioned great and haven't been late yet - maybe there's hope!

My Quest to Start My Food Storage Supply

I know I am really, really behind in food storage, but I have always been really scared of starting. Some of it was where to start, how to afford it and in the beginning, where to put it. Now that we have a basement, I have the place to put it, but I didn't know where to begin. I started doing research last month as the push to get this going was getting stronger and stronger. Provident Living didn't give me any specifics and 3rd party websites are all about dehydrated and freeze-dried foods (and are really expensive). I did, however find a site on lds.about.com that gave me a food storage calculator and I went from there. Then about the middle of August I made a call to Macey's Foods for another reason and found out that they were having a bulk foods sale the next week. I made a quick trip in with the truck and made my Mom and Grandma go with me. What a productive trip!! As you can see I got a good portion of what was on the list from the calculator. They didn't have everything I needed, but what I did get has made me feel like a load has been lifted. As for the way to afford it, we took half of our gov kickback check. I used about 2/3 at this sale and next month will buy some canned foods from Macey's case lot sale. The rest will go towards a wheat grinder. (If anyone has suggestion for a grinder - please comment!) For some reason Cameron thinks we need one now that we have 315 lbs. of wheat. Macey's might not have the best deal, but it was the best I have seen - especially for around here!


(Just don't look at the messy basement!)


While my folks were here - they helped us put up the 3 boxes of peaches and 3 boxes of pears they brought out for us. We ended up putting up 51 quarts of pears and 32 quarts of peaches. That has also added to our food storage considerably! I feel so much better!

Even More Random Pictures

This is Peaches. She is Paige's horse, but she's usually who I'm riding with Hyrum. This was after an hour and a half ride - they just can't get enough.

Hannah is playing peek-a-boo with Cam.

This is Hannah's first hairdo - because Cameron insisted!

Here's Uncle Matt walking Hannah - she just has the best look on her face.

Here's a great shot of Hyrum riding double with me the other night.

Pictures From My Birthday

Can you believe I was selected to be a juror on my birthday? Well, it was an inmate trial and I have a hard time being impartial with Cameron doing what he does for a job, so I got out of it. After I got out, Cameron took me to lunch and then we ran some errands without the kids, then home. I have to say I have the best friends in all the world! My friend Charis brought me a German chocolate cake and the sweetest card, Connie and Brittany brought me dinner (yes! No cooking!) and I also got a card from a great friend, Emily. Later that night my in-laws came over and made me a chocolate pudding cake (thanks Neva!) and we just hung out for awhile. These are some of the pictures that I took with my kids - I actually had make-up on for a change. It was a great day. Then . . . to top it all off . . . Cameron did hunny-do's all weekend!!!!

We were able to go for another ride last night and it was the most perfect night! It was a lot of fun and it's a great time to be together as a family. In fact, it's possibly our favorite activity to do together. Hyrum is really starting to get into it this year.

Hyrum has a funny way of hanging on to me. He likes to stick his hands under my butt and uses my weight to keep him firmly in place. It feels really weird and I try to get him to hang onto my waist, but he always starts out this way.

I love this shot of Cam and Paige on Tahoe.

This is a short video of our ride and me attempting to video at the same time.

The Many Faces of Hannah

Hannah Playing Patty Cake

We were in the backyard last night enjoying the great weather and I finally videoed Hannah "rolling it". She's just such a doll!