The Joy of having Granny and Pa Visit

At the beginning of the school year, we had the blessing of having Granny and Pa visit for THREE WHOLE WEEKS!  It was wonderful!  On top of how fun it was to have them in town, the boys were thrilled that Pa did their garbage duty every day for them.  I told the boys they needed to bake Pa his favorite pie for doing their chores for them. 

When Granny and Pa left, Benny and Will didn’t know what to do.  Benny actually texted Pa, begging him to come back because I had just asked him to take out the trash.

**Note how you can see your reflection in the counter top.  Or how the rug in the back is clutter free and vacuumed…… Ya, it doesn’t look like that anymore.

We love and miss you guys!  (Not just because the house was clean either!)

High School Homecoming Game

We thought it would be fun to start attending the local High School football games.  This past Friday was their Homecoming game.  It brought back SO MANY memories!

I totally remember staying out late, working on the senior float because it had to be AWESOME! or at least better than the Juniors….

This is how I hope my boys will be in High School. 

Walking away from the game I said to Ray, “You know what?  For the first time, I don’t feel like I am right out of high school.”  He laughed at me and said, “it only took 5 kids and 17 years to realize that.” 

Ya, I have been in a bit of denial that I am actually getting older!

Eating for two

Wondering why there are no photos of me lately?

Because Hazel was not a 60 pound baby like the scale said she was going to be!

Earning Their Keep

We moved into a new house about a year ago.  As inspections were being done, we realized that there was no furnace.  The only sources of heat for the house are 2 wood stoves and a fireplace!  Well, that’s not exactly  true. The house does have radiant heat.  IN THE CEILINGS!  Doesn’t heat rise??  The only thing that benefits from that is the top of Ray’s head!

To heat the house for the winter we need a little bit of firewood……

OK, A LOT of firewood!

2 cords to be exact.  Last year when I ordered the firewood I had NO IDEA how much a cord of wood was.  I dump truck showed up and FILLED our driveway with wood.

The kids were so excited to see all the firewood after school.  They were such hard workers.  They stacked wood for 3 hours straight!!  (slave labor, I know!) We paid them well via large brownie sundaes with homemade chocolate fudge. 

Hazel supervised from her throne

The wood pile after over a solid hour of work.

Hey Ray, how much wood can a wood chuck chuck……

I just can’t help it

On the way to school yesterday Benny asked me to help quiz him on some math facts for a test he was having that day.  So I started throwing out math fact like, '”what is 9 times 7”.

When we reached Benny’s school he hopped out of the car and said, “Thanks mom”.  As I pulled away, I rolled down the window and followed Benny slowly along the sidewalk yelling, “Quick, what’s 6 times 4?  What’s 3 times 8?” 

(Benny with his friend Preston on a field trip)

Benny started running away, yelling the answers to me.  I kept following him, shouting math facts out the window until he was out of reach. 

Sorry Benny, I just can’t help being the embarrassing Mom!

Family Dinner

At dinner tonight we all tried to talk in our best English Accent.

We then moved on to Southern accents.  I think Will won that round with his use of the word “FEYNCE”.

Looking at these pictures makes me realize it might be a little mean to put Hazel right in the middle of the dinner table and let her watch us all eat, while she just drools. 

I think the second chin is a good indicator that this baby has PLENTY of food!

 

Camp Liahona Redwoods

A few weekends ago, our family went camping with our Ward at the campground our church owns.

One of the things the kids loved most was doing the dishes!

Where can we get one of those?

Ray helped build firewood holders for a service project

Avril helped watch Hazel

This picture just about sums up the awesomeness of it all!

Will trying to use the timer on the camera

I think he figured it out