super brooke

brooke loves to ask questions, a million questions...sometimes it gets a little much. after annoying kaden with too many questions one day-he commented "you know mom if brooke were a super hero, she'd be QUESTION GIRL!-
she could baffle the enemy with her endless questions!"

september in review

calendar quotes:

"in the current world-it is the mothers who take the role of soldiers, fighting in the trenches to protect their families" -Janeen Wright (mother of the year)

"earth's crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God; and only he who sees takes off his shoes" -Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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well we started off the month with koy's turn to start school...he was so excited!

his teacher is mrs. jill and she just couldn't be any sweeter! koy loves going, he is in the afternoon and he is so excited on pre-school days it's hard for him to wait for it to be time to go. and he is equally excited his best buddy, connor goes too!
kent thought up a fun little idea for the yard...a bike track. the kids have had so much fun riding their bikes and the 4-wheeler on the hills.
we even get kaden outdoors to enjoy it :)
our cat had 4 kittens, the kids love to play with them...this is our second and hopefully last batch for the year. on this morning they were all huddled in the warm water feeder (empty of course).

kelsi finished her volleyball season. it will be nice to see her more, she had practice everyday until 5:30. it was so fun to see how much she improved from the start to the finish...her team did awesome, they only lost to one school.

we have had such nice weather, i love all the outside play we're getting in. brooke loves riding the 4-wheeler: it kind of seems weird that both of my girls love the 4-wheeler better than their brothers...this day she gave sled rides to all the neighbor kids. they were all laughing so hard!

we even made it to egin lakes again at the end of the month...oh yeah! i'm not ready for winter, we're having way too much fun!

and to end the month kaden had a school pow-wow. his class did a big indian unit for school and put on a program for the parents. they danced and showed their projects and talked about interesting facts...kaden loved it...he absolutely loves his teacher this year. it's so fun seeing the joy learning gives this kid :)

I LOVE HUNTING!

no kent did not pay me to say that :)

kent invited me to go hunting with him this year, i was quite surprised...but happy that he wanted to spend some of his limited time with me. so of course we had to get me some camo and practice some cow calls (my job). we left early on friday morning, but not quite early enough...just as the sun was coming up we spotted a 6 point in a field nearby where we were going to hunt, we weren't quick enough to do much but i thought it was a good sign to have seen one already. we got to the area where kent wanted to hunt and got out of the truck and started to hike. well right off the bat we start to see where a bear had clawed the trees and the very first creek we cross we see big bear and baby bear tracks...not what we were hunting for! i did not want to see a bear, or hear a bear, or smell a bear, i didn't even like seeing traces of bear. we kept on hiking-kent wanted to see if a wallow from the previous year was still a hot spot for the elk. this is the wallow behind us...

i guess the elk like to play around and cool themselves off in it. we did see some elk tracks (and more bear) but nothing recent. so kent made a few bugles but didn't get any response. we went on hiking...i actually loved all the hiking, the forest (yes, forest in idaho) was very green and pretty and a little noisy-who would think squirrells could make such a raquet dropping nuts. then kent bugled from another area and he got a bull to start responding to him. that was pretty cool-i didn't realize that kent actually can really talk to elk...full on conversations! pretty cool :) but this elk was lazy and wasn't interested in coming close to us. so we stopped to smell the flowers...
literally-the wildflowers were so pretty! we took a little break (boring part) and then hiked to another spot for the evening, we crouched down and waited for a couple hours (another boring part) but didn't see anything so we headed back for the truck and into driggs for something to eat (the first time all day). then found a spot; close to where we were going to hunt the next day, to sleep. the next morning we got up and one of kents friends-seth met us and we headed out again! we hiked for about an hour and then kent started to bugle. well we immediately got a response and kent thought he could just keep calling him in...in the mean time seth had to get back to a baptism. so kent kept calling and getting response but the bull quit moving closer, so we started to sneak up on him...this is actually quite fun-i like acting sneaky! pretty soon it was obvious that we were getting close, so kent set me up with the elk decoy (a giant cow bum to hide behind and my trusty cow call). but we couldn't get any response to the cow call...so i told kent to try to bugle again and he kind of looked at me like that's not how it works-but since we weren't getting any response anyways there was nothing to lose, so kent bugled again and what do you know the bull bugled back. this bull didn't want a girl, he wanted a fight-or he was gay :) pretty soon i could start hearing the bull come crashing through the forest and i was scared at this point...i was about 30 yards from kent in a clearing and you could tell that bull wasn't happy we were there-he kept letting out mean huffy breaths...i actually wanted to cry. well he walked right in front of kent about 12 yards away...
that's kent hiding! kent put one arrow in him and then another at 17 yards...i was still hiding behind my decoy and then i saw kent reach down to get his camera, so i stood up and that bull was just standing there. kent took a few pictures of him and then the bull walked away. well, when i went over to where kent was he said he thought that the elk looked like it was going to drop right there so he didn't put another arrow in him. we surveyed the scene and found a little blood and one arrow-kent was starting think that he hadn't had a good shot. but we ended up finding the blood trail and i was ready to go on a treasure hunt! kent informed me again that that's not how it's done, you have to wait awhile for elk to lay down and die...that just didn't seem right-i mean we got it and now we were just going to leave for awhile. crazy! so we hiked back out(it took about an hour and a half). we went to seth's house to look at the pictures that kent took. we got something to eat(only time this day too). we went back around 3 to find the elk...come to find out that elk was only about 90 yards away from where kent shot and it was a good shot. kent and seth started to gut it and cut it up: seth called his brother and father-in-law to see if they could pack the meat out on horses...they were such lifesavers and so nice to help at the last minute and give up their evening. we didn't get home until way after midnight: we shot the elk around 10-it was a long day...but it was worth it!

institute

i have been taking an instute class from our stake president, President Marcum. i have loved it so much. i love being taught and learning and feeling the spirit. the first class we were in the relief society room and this picture was in the room...
i am such a Martha, always busy: not with bad things just sometimes not with the best things-i can't hold still! and i know i need to be more like the Savior said, "...Mary hath chosen the good part." -Luke 10:42
so i have really been trying to know what he wants me to do with my time and not just what i want to get done. i have also really tried to pray more to have the Holy Ghost with me, something that i didn't realize how often i did not have. i am very self sufficient by nature and want to do everything by myself. it's hard to put off the natural man. but i have come to understand that when i try to teach or discipline or act without having the Holy Ghost with me, it is not effective. i need his help!
we are reading the New Testament , it's just been so exciting! i remember as we were discussing the 12 disciples and how they literally followed him, this picture came to mind...

and i thought just like i was sitting in the chapel listening to President Marcum. others sat and listened while Jesus taught them. i have just wished class was longer, the hour goes by way too fast. and just recently someone brought up the question: why we don't have closing prayer after our class? and i just love President Marcums answer-he said we shouldn't close our teaching and learning at the end of a certain time, we should keep pondering and learning. i have enjoyed so much this opportunity :)

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)