It's great to be 8!

 

Christmas Kiddos!

The Big Guy!

This morning we had our Ward Christmas Party and while we were there, a special visitor arrived.
Cambrie said she didn't tell Santa anything that she wanted because she had already given all her ideas to me (hmmm!).

Jake told me he asked for a plane.

And Little Tater asked for a dog!

The kids sang several Christmas songs too. It was a great morning.

Temple Day.

Jason's Mom has been hard at work on her Geneaology and really wanted to get to work on some of the family names she had completed. We went to the Idaho Falls Temple and were able to do baptisms, confirmations and initiatories for several of Tom's ancestors. It was a great day. We finished it up with Olive Garden, then headed back home to the kiddos.

Daddy Daughter Derby!

Cambrie participated in her 1st Pinewood Derby as part of Activity Days. It was a Daddy Daughter Derby. They worked on the car together. Cambrie looked online to find the design she wanted, then Jason helped her with the cutting and sanding. Cambrie picked out the colors and painted it mostly on her own. I got the movie Down and Derby from the library to help get them in the spirit.
Cambrie even wanted to take car themed treats, so we made these banana cars with marshmallow wheels.
And here is the car. She won the award for "Luckiest Car."

Jake's 1st day as a Sunbeam

He's getting so big. I can't believe he's already in Primary as a Sunbeam. Surprisingly he wasn't very enthused about going to Sharing Time, but luckily Tatum was there to take care of him. She sat by him with her arm around him trying to console him. It was so sweet and such a change from not too long ago when Tatum herself didn't want to go to class. Here he is after church was through - smiling no less which is pretty impressive considering we've started going at 1pm.

Member Since 2009

Cambrie was baptized on December 26th, 2009. Hopefully for many reasons this day will always be memorable for Cambrie, but I especially hope she'll always remember that she was able to be baptized near Christmas. It is such a magical time and this Christmas we spent extra time focusing on our Savior in preparation for this day.

Cambrie was baptized by her Dad. Here they are just minutes before the dunking.

Cambrie and I after the Baptism.

Cambrie with her Grandma and Grandpa.

Cambrie's Special Day!

Ward Christmas Party!

For our ward Christmas Party we headed to the Bagley's for sleigh rides and tubing. The kids had a blast. They even got to try out their new tube they got for Christmas (a little early) and they loved it. Here are a few of the pictures.

Tatum would only ride with Cambrie!

Jake couldn't get enough of the tube and would go over and over again all by himself, but had a hard time pulling the tube back up the hill.

There was a tractor tube there and the kids would try to see how many they could squish on it.

Martin's Cove Trek

At the end of June we were able to go to Martin's Cove for a family trek. We had an amazing time and learned a great deal about the Martin & Willie Handcart Companies.

Crossing the Sweetwater at Sixth Crossing


Tatum pushing the handcart

Still Working on Food Storage!

We decided to make a Family Night out of canning some more food for our food storage. The kids actually really enjoyed it and were a huge help.

Jake with a little powdered milk.

Cambrie was the designated can labeler.

Jake and Tatum were on lid and box duty.

Jas worked on filling the cans.

Frantic for Food Storage

I really can't say exactly what caused it, it was probably a combination of many things: my neighbor's recent stock piling of food, threats of a potential trucker strike, rising food costs, claims of supposed food shortages, or probably even just guilt that my food storage is for the most part non-existent. At any rate, after an Enrichment Night on Preparedness, I wasn't feeling all that prepared. Fortunately, my neighbor and I were both very motivated so we decided to take a trip to Idaho Falls. It was quite the shopping trip. At Sam's Club each of us had our own flatbed filled. In fact, at one point, I think more items were falling off than were staying on. I finally decided to go get each of us another cart. I took this picture of Connie, but I need to say that this was taken way too early. Once the chaos ensued, pictures weren't on the forefront of my mind. I finally made it out with 2 carts and a flatbed. Not too bad! We got plenty of odd looks and many comments too which surprised me. No, we don't own a daycare! Yes, this is all for my family! Yes, I do live far away! etc, etc. It seems like there should be a better system for shopping. Put everything in the cart only to take it out at the register, to put it back in the cart, so you can take it out of the cart again when you get to your car. Whatever! We hadn't had enough yet, and there was still about 2 square feet of space in my Yukon, so we headed to Winco. It was my first time there and WOW, they've got some great deals. Well, load up another cart (way too full ), empty it again, load it again (it never all fits in the same way), and empty it again into the now very tightly packed car. After a mere 8 hours of driving and cart loading and unloading, we managed to make it home by 2am, only to have cars to unload and a whole Saturday organizing my bomb shelter (a nickname given to our cold storage by the workers on our house). Next on our list is a trip for the husbands to buy wheat! They're a little skeptical of our sudden urgency to increase our food storage, but they're trying to keep the mockery to a minimum. How does that saying go? Don't bite the hand that feeds you?! Nah, all kidding aside, there's a definite comfort to knowing that I have food for my family should a need arise.

By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail.

-Ben Franklin