Conversation at Sam's club...

I think Nate is starting to notice physical traits of those around him.  It's definitely a new thing, so that's why this conversation was so funny...

Nate:  That's like a really big Savana girl!

Me:  (looking in the direction he was pointing, I saw a girl with red hair, just the shade of our cousin Savana) Yep!  She has the same color hair as Savana!

Nate:  No.  She is a big Savana.  And she has lots of mosquito bites all over her face.

Me:  (taking a closer look)  Mosquito bites?

Nate:  Yeah.  Lots of mosquito bites, like Jacob has lots of mosquito bites on his face.

Me: (seeing freckles)...oh, those aren't mosquito bites, they are freckles.

Nate:  Freckles?  No.  They're mosquito bites.  Lots of them.

Happy Birthday to Mike!

Another year goes by and you are still our favorite guy :)

The kids are always excited to get you your favorite treats and some fishing lures.  They think you are pretty awesome and I do too.  Hope it was a great birthday!  

Conversation at the dinner table...

Allie: (crying as she walked into the room.  ) Mom.  Carson says my name is a swear word.

Me: (knowing instantly what she means, I started laughing.)  Let's get into this conversation when your dad is in here, because he is the reason your name is a swear word.

Allie: (horrified)  You mean my name is a swear word?!?

Me:  Let's just wait for dad.

...minutes later...

Me:  Mike, Allie discovered that her initials are a swear word.  Would you like to talk to her and tell her why you insisted that her name be Allie Susanne Schwab?

Mike: (laughing)  Allie, it's funny!

Allie:  No it isn't!

Mike:  Yes it is.  You can doodle it on your papers and then not get in trouble because you're just writing your initials.  Besides, it's not even a bad swear word.  It's in the bible.

...We then spent the next half hour laughing about it and trying to convince Allie that it's funny.  I'm not sure that we did the trick, but she will just have to learn to live with the results of her dad's humor.

Allie's Baptism

We had the best day yesterday.  Allie was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  We baptized her in the pond by our house. 

I watched the weather the whole week before the big day and things started looking pretty bad.  The night before was a down pour like we haven't seen in months.  I didn't want to change things up last minute and have her baptized in a font, so we went through with our plans and just prayed really hard that things would work out.  Those prayers worked and Saturday came as a beautiful sunshiny day.  We had the meeting at our house and there was such a special spirit there.

We met Lily and her family down there and they were baptized together.  Pretty lucky girl to get to share the day with her friend Lily.

Allie said the water was cold, but she didn't seem to mind too much.  We had some warm towels waiting for her when they got out.

There they are!  The newest members of the church...at least for a little while.

Lots of people came to support Allie.  I was surprised when her first grade teacher came.  I thought that was so sweet of her!

 Grandpa Joe and Grandma B were there.

 Grandma Johnson

 Mitch, Lauren, Merrilee, and Herb came.

 The Parkhursts

 Grandma Bonnie

Brian and Tara's family.

And the Nicholson's.

I didn't end up with a picture of our family, but I got one with me and her together.  I love this chick-a-dee and am so proud of her.  In a way, I'm glad I just got one girl because then I can always say that she's my favorite girl and I won't feel like I'm making anyone else feel bad.  I am so grateful that she is mine and so glad to welcome her into the church that I hold dear.

Congratulations Allie Sue!  I love you!

Parties

I like parties.  I like all sorts of parties.  Jason likes parties too.  The other day, he invited me to his poo party.  I didn't really want to go.  That's probably the only kind of party that I don't like, and so far, that's the only kind of party that he has invited me to.  So I went, and neither of us had any fun, so I hope he'll just quit having poo parties.  I really think we'd all be better off.  

Star Valley

Mike had his 25 year class reunion in Star Valley and we decided to go.  It meant a day of fun for these kiddos.  We went down to Aunt Helen's place and had fun floating boats in the river...

Catching bull heads...

...and even swimming.

They all got in plenty of rides on the motorcycles.

It was a really fun day.  I don't have any pictures of Jason because he was snoozing when I had my camera out.
Mike had a great day of fishing with his friend Charlie Brown (yep, that's his real name).  He was able to get to some of the best fishing holes in the world and caught some big fish.  No pictures of course...
He wouldn't let me take any pictures at his class reunion either, but it was really fun.  We left the kids with all the family and had an evening to ourselves.  I think it was the longest we had been away from them together in a really long time.

First day of school!  The kids are out the door and gone for the day.

Allie has Miss Hellstern (the same as Jake in 2nd grade).

Jake has Mr. Simpson.  He played a Despicable Me clip in his classroom at back to school night, so he must be pretty cool.

We had a bit of a chaotic morning, but we made it out the door in time to get pictures with their friends.

I think they're both excited.  It should be a great day for them.

Jason and Nate sent them off with a hug and a wave.  Then we went home to our quiet house.
Things aren't much different around here because they aren't ever in the house anyway in the summer, but we miss them all the same.  I miss Allie letting Nate play with her for hours.

 I also miss Jake's daily chore of cleaning up Jason's books.

I think we'll be reading a bit today.

Happy first day of school!

Fudge

We haven't had the best of luck with the caterpillars this year.  I hate to admit it, but we have killed a few.  Not intentionally, but my friend Jason may or may not have something to do with the demise of at least one poor beast.  We have had some success though, and Fudge was our first to come out of its chrysalis. 

He actually stuck around for a photo shoot.  Usually, they are out as soon as we unzip the cage.

I don't think I will ever tire of looking at Monarch butterflies.  They are so beautiful.

It is a highlight of Nate's day to go and see the progress of the caterpillars.  He's the one who named this guy Fudge.  He sure is a cutie.

Thanks for making us so happy Fudge!  I hope you have a great life.  You are welcome in our yard any day!

Broken

My camera has had a rough summer.  I got this camera a few months before Sam was born, so it is five years old now.  The lens that I had was from the days before I went digital, so it was over 10.  I knew that it was getting older and wearing out, but I was still really sad when I picked it up one day and zoomed in to focus on something and snap...the whole thing came apart in my hands.  I had to go back to using the stock lens that came with my camera 5 years ago.
It was an annoying lens.  It didn't zoom in as close as I would like, and it wouldn't focus very fast, so I was frustrated with it often.  Still, it was a working lens...until it wasn't.
We were at the family reunion and my cousin Tyler (a photographer in Idaho) was lamenting his bad luck of having his camera bag fall out of the back of his suburban when he opened the door.  The camera came out of the bag and cracked the LCD display.  I felt so bad for him and as he told the story, I thought of all the times my camera had been dropped and miraculously survived.
The next day...you guessed it, my camera bag fell out of the back of the car and the camera rolled out of the bag, smack onto the pavement and the lens snapped off.  I said several swears in front of my mom (she forgave me and said she has sworn in moments like that too).
I was just sick about it.  I thought of all the things I needed to take pictures of in the near future (Allie's baptism) and knew that I needed to get a new lens sooner than later.  Luckily the camera wasn't broken...just the lens.
Anyway, I got home from the reunion and started looking at lenses online and just got depressed.  I hate to blow that kind of money on something for myself.  I had to talk myself into it though because I use my camera every day.  It makes me so happy.  My camera freezes the moments in time that just seem to slip away so fast.  So, I bought a used (new to me) lens and it came just a few short days later.  I ripped open the box and attached my new lens to the camera that makes me happy and suddenly life was just fine again.
So, goodbye old lenses...sorry I didn't treat you so kindly.  Thanks for all the great shots.

A Movie Night Party

Allie wanted to watch a movie outside for her birthday party.  She invited some girls over and said that it would be okay if her brothers came too.  We watched Rio 2 and had some yummy snacks too.  

Jason waited until everyone was busy looking the other way and then had his way with the cupcakes.  I guess that's what happens when you leave things at his level.

Allie got some fun gifts and even had a friend who was thoughtful enough to bring Nate and Jason a fun gift too.  She is a lucky duck to have such fun friends.

It was a really fun night.  We decided that we didn't need a birthday as an excuse to do it again.  The party was definitely a success.