volleyball tryouts

well this is a very old post i was thinking about-kelsi tried out for volleyball this year...real try-outs where about 1/2 the girls get cut and your cut, cut! well i was so stinkin' nervous for her, we both knew she was one of the weaker players and quite a few of the moms and student coaches had told me that if her coach was going on determination and hard work then kelsi was going to make it but on pure skill-probably not. so we were both quite nervous...i love that up to now kelsi was willing to try anything and i was so scared that if she didn't make volleyball that she would maybe be scared to try the next thing. and i was asking everyone what do you say when they don't make it: i mean we know that are kids are amazing and talented and awesome! but it's hard when others tell you your not quite good enough...
well thankfully it wasn't a talk i had to give yet, she made it! i know that it will come someday, i mean we all can't be the best at everything! it really made me realize that being a mom doesn't come as naturally as i thought it would...some things you'll never be ready for.

august in review

calendar quotes:

"one cannot really be content with mediocrity once excellence is whithin reach" -President Monson

"everything about our lives is an indicator of our Father's respect for us, that He recommended and selected us for now, when the stakes are so high, when His kingdom is being established once and for all, never again to be taken from the earth...He believes in us!" -Sheri Dew

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well i'm finally getting to august, we had such a fun start to the month...we took a week vacation to yellowstone-here's just a few of the over 200 pictures(yes kent had the camera). we took lots of pictures with painted fish and buffalos...

we visited a place called ruby lake-one of our favorite spots, we needed more time here...and we definately will be back. we dug in the sand for "rubies" which turn out are really garnets, but it was still exciting-who doesn't love to dig for burried treasure =)
we visited virginia city on the way back from ruby lake and it was about 7 and the whole town pretty much closes down at 5, so none of the shops were open but we peeked in and walked the boardwalk. it was fascinating, i love old antiques and equipment-and i actually liked to have the place to ourselves, it felt very ghost town! also with all the places closed, my kids could only look through the windows and didn't have to here me say over and over "just look, don't touch!!!!!"

we found this old straw hat blowing around-all the kids tried it on...i thought koy looked like tom sawyer.

kent and i also celebrated 15 years of marriage, wow! we went to the playmill and saw "footloose". we didn't get a picture but this is when kent and i were dating...he had to act so tough! and yes, i cut all our pictures together in the shape of hearts, ahhhh love.

we brought all our bikes with us and were able to get around yellowstone a fun way and found some snowmobile trails to play around on.

i love this picture of kelsi and brooke, it's so cute!

we stayed at a timeshare while we were there, we were on the third floor-which was fabulous because my kids can't get enough of the elevator(and luggage cart). we were able to swim quite a bit-probably my kids favorite activity, alot of times they would ask when we were going back to swim...

they also loved the exercise room, and they actually worked out pretty hard. i was doing the triathlon on saturday so kelsi and kaden would pretend to do triathlons they would go swimming and then go on the eliptical(their version of a bike) and then run on the treadmill...kelsi ran 4 miles in bare feet on the treadmill and got blisters on her feet :(

they loved just hanging out too-i kind of feel sorry for anyone below us...i have to say one of my favorite memories was when they played hide and seek for about 2 hours on Sunday-koy had the best hiding spot, he hid in his daddys duffel bag. i don't think he would have been found except duffel bags don't laugh!

we took a day and toured yellowstone park, me and the kids had never been there. it was so cool...i wish we would have had more days, it was a little much for one day and i did get a little car sick.

the colors and sights were simply amazing, i wanted to read everything to figure out how it was all made and works! fascinating...

the kids got front row seats to see "old faithful"...koy was cracking us up, he kept calling it alfalfa. "when will we see alfalfa?", "where is alfalfa?", "alfalfa was so cool!" what a nut.

kent brought along a portable grill wherever we traveled, so we could just stop and have lunch whenever and wherever we wanted to...it was so nice and we didn't have to buy $5 hot dogs.

i don't have any pictures but we also floated a river(on tubes): the water was so COLD and it took alot longer than we thought-alot longer-luckily diane, todd & their kids came with us and they had rented a canoe so we ended up all hitching a ride to the canoe to get there faster. we know next time what to do.
we stopped and watched the fish-

our last stop was at the "johnny sack cabin", an old cabin that was built by hand and it was just amazing to see all the woodwork. even the kids loved it...and we're pretty sure that he had some sort of secret hiding spot in there-we just needed more time to poke around :)

this is a picture of johny sack, he was about the size of kelsi...i think he looks like a garden gnome.

what a fun trip.

kelsi made this way cute quilt "strawberry lemonade" with her grandma sanderson this summer. we entered it into the fair and she won a big 'ol ribbon-reserve grand champion, which is a fancy way of saying second place.

i just love to go collect the eggs from the chickens, you just never know what color or size your going to find. it's always a surprise! this day we got one regular size egg and a little bitty egg, it was so teeny.

well you always know it's almost time for school to start when you have the "celebrate youth" carnival-my kids wait all summer for this. brooke breezed up the rock wall.

we were able to squeeze a few more summer activities in too-one of my scouts flood their lawn and invited us a few times this summer. i forgot how much fun a flooded lawn is...it brought back good memories of my grandma andersons house.

the kids love to catch as many water snakes (6 of them) and frogs (at least 20) as they can!

what a month-i love the summer!

good kid!

the other day i was just thinking how nice it is when i see my kids do good things on their own...when they don't have to be told to or reminded, i snuck this picture of kelsi-she wasn't very happy. but she makes me very happy! it's been over a year that i will often find kelsi like this: i never have to tell her to read her scriptures, she does it on her own.
i just love that she wants to please Heavenly Father and not just me! (i also love that she still twirls her hair)

first day of school

well typically i line all my kids up for first day of school pictures: but not this time...we had quite the first day of school morning. koy had woke up a couple of times in the middle of the night and threw up and so i was quite tired, kelsi cam into my room at about 6:30 and said she felt like she was going to throw up. so i told her to rest until 7 and then we'd see how she was. well i got up at 7, kelsi was still sick but wanted to go to school because she was having volleyball try-outs after school. i got kaden up and ready, and then i got brooke up and she immediately said she didn't want to go to school and i asked if she wasn't feeling well and she said yes. so in the mean time kelsi is trying to get ready and she throws up. but then she says she actually felt a little better and so her and kaden run to catch the bus. well it becomes pretty clear to me that brooke actually is not sick at all and just was too nervous to go to school, so i tell her we're getting ready and i will drive her to school. well she would not walk into her class, so i sit out in the hall and try to bargain with her and pretty soon we're both in tears and i decide that i can't leave her at school like this!
well that night i was talking to brooke and i told her she would have to go to school the next day and she told me "i don't want to go to school tomorrow or the next day or the next day or the next day!" so the next morning i get everyone up and i'm trying to be super happy for brooke...she cried through getting dressed, brushing her teeth, brushing her hair, family prayer- well she wouldn't walk to the bus so i told kelsi she would just have to carry her, so kelsi is trying to carry her to the bus (i'm watching from the window) and brooke gets loose and makes a run for it back to the house. well i didn't know what to do so i went to the front door and locked it. so brooke is banging on the door to let her in. i felt like such a rotten mom! but i just can't face my kids when they're upset :( kelsi comes back and carries her to the bus, by this time kelsi's crying too.
well i was feeling pretty bad about how i handled the situation, i had even prayed that i would know what to say and do to help brooke feel better about going to school and that's what i came up with? locking her out-nice. well i was so glad to get a call from my good friend lisa marie and we took our little ones to the spray park, i don't think i could of lasted a whole day of worrying how brooke was doing at school.
so i decided to try and get a picture off the bus and this is what i got...
it's kind of a smile :) i'll take it! and i'm glad kids are so forgiving.

oh i forgot to say how kadens first day of schoool went, when he got home i asked how it went and he said "well" and he sort of paused and i got scared and then he said "it was awesome, no-i mean wickedly awesome!" i love kaden, so easily pleased.

table rock

for a couple of years my friend, kris has talked about hiking table rock in the tetons...she has done it before and i have always told her i wanted too but it just never seemed to work out. well we were able to this year...
i was amazed as we drove up there: kent hunts up there and has always told me how dense the forests were but i kind of didn't believe him, i mean i'm from washington...we have real forests in washington :) but i have to say i was impressed and a little nervous...i really didn't want to see any bears or mountain lions. so this is where we were heading too-it looked so far away!

but as we walked it did get closer and closer!

we even hit some patches of snow as we got higher, of course i couldn't resist building a summer snowman! snow is still cold in the summer, i should of had gloves...

so cute, huh?

well we made it to the top in pretty good time, i think it was 6 miles. and we couldn't have asked for a better day.
i wish my camera could do this justice but the tetons are right behind us and it literally feels like you can reach out and touch them. the view was beautiful, beautiful, beautiful...i don't know how anyone can ever question a loving Heavenly Father after experiences like this. we sat on top and ate some lunch and just enjoyed it for about an hour and a half.

i love this shot looking down, it shows the "switch backs" that you go on.

and i had to get this shot of kris, she wore her bear bells and jingled all the way up and all the way down...it was very happy sounding!

what a fun day!!! i'm so glad that i'm able to enjoy so much in my life and have such great friends to do it with.

torture!

okay so i had this brilliant idea at the start of summer that i was going to make koy go to one of the summer movies each week. he was being naughty at church and i thought this boy needs to learn how to sit still...i know, i know--tortue to make your kids get some popcorn and pop and watch a movie. the first movie he cried almost the whole time and even pinched me. but by the second movie he sat just fine and did for the rest of the summer, he was better than brooke!
so i guess he did learn how to sit a little better, but he's still quite crazy at church :( but it was me that was tortured by this whole thing, i have decided that i am not a movie lover...i had a hard time sitting through some(most) of the movies. they were simply--dumb(excuse the language) and even had swear words in quite a few. so hopefully i don't get anymore brilliant ideas like this!

Gordon B. Hinckley

i still tear up when i hear his voice-it is just so familiar...

it speaks love, peace and joy to me!

"i have not lost my faith in goodness.

i believe in the ultimate triumph of good over evil

and that ultimately all will be well!"