It's Great to be Eight for this Kid!

The day before we moved, Eli turned 8!

 With our older children, we started a tradition of challenging the kids to read the Book of Mormon before they turned 8. All of them, including Eli have met that challenge and been rewarded with their own set of scriptures (not pictured).

 Because we were in the middle of a mess, we celebrated better at his baptism, but we somehow managed some cupcakes for him. One to grow on!

 On July 2, Eli was baptized and confirmed by his Dad. For the first time ever, we had extended family at a baptism!

 This was a very special day for this great boy, made even more special with all this support! So proud of your decision to be baptized and join the Lord's church, Eli!

And we celebrated again with more cupcakes! Love you, bud!

Moving!

As incredible and unbelievable as it sounds, we moved! After living in Roseau, MN for 13 years, we moved to Preston, Idaho in June. Steven left his dream job at Polaris and took a job in Logan, UT working for S&S Worldwide designing roller coasters. It was a very big change in careers for him, and as sad as he was to leave Polaris, he sacrificed so we could live closer to family.

 One of the things that we had to do in order to move, was sell the dogs - our Gimli and Sage. It was so hard to see them go - they'd been part of our family for about 10 years!

 But we knew that southern Idaho was no place for sled dogs - they needed to stay where they could enjoy the cold winters in Roseau. We found a great home with 80 acres and farm animals they could enjoy. We'll miss you Sage & Gimli!

 S&S wanted Steven to start in April, but he was able to put it off until May so our family would only be apart for about a month.  It was a sad day when he pulled away without us, but we had a lot to finish at home before we could leave (like school, packing and Alex's graduation).

We put in many LONG hours packing, painting, staining, repairing and cleaning - everyone helped!

Some were happier than others!

Many repairs had to be done on the house, lots of them after Steven had to leave. I did things I never thought I'd do - like climbing on the roof and picking away all the moss that had grown on it, then sterilizing it with bleach so it wouldn't grow back.

Looks a bit better!

The deck also needed some updating - so I cleaned and stained it.

Steven was able to come home for a week to help before we pulled away.

 That was a mad crazy week of packing, cleaning and loading that we would love to forget!

Tough muscles! 

This one was supervising I think! 

Steven oversaw packing up our piano for its 14th move. He's gotten it down to a science. Man is that thing heavy!!

The hardest part for us was saying goodbye to everyone that became our family away from home. Our karaoke going away party with ladies from the branch was fabulous!

This is part of our weekly (sometimes bi-weekly) basketball crew. We are really going to miss them, and basketball! 

 When we were finally done, we left a lot of our decorative items in the home so it would show better, but most everything else was packed in our third car garage and 24' enclosed trailer.

Sad to see it so bare!

 Last minute - trying to beat the storm that was coming in hard and fast.

 Almost done...

I wanted to take pictures of us as we were leaving, but the storm hit so hard I couldn't do it. Talk about a downpour - then about a mile from home the canoe starting sliding around so Alex and I had to get out to secure it. Soaked to the skin, but we finally were off and going. Steven and Eli in the Tundra pulling the small trailer, me driving the Suburban with Leah and Olivia, with the canoe on top, and Alex with Ethan in the Rav4.

 Leah took a turn driving after having gotten her driver's license the day before we left!

And we're off to more adventures in Idaho!

Leah's... 16 - What?!

The day I never thought would come - did. Leah turned 16! And to top it off she did it without her Dad being home!

 She started out the day with strawberry scones - mmmmm!

 

Adorable presents for an adorable girl.

 Sweet!

And she got her requested ice cream cake - not as beautiful as Dairy Queen's, but it tastes better!

 And the best part of the whole birthday was this!

Love both of these beautiful girls!



Easter 2016

This family loves Easter!

Dyeing Easter eggs is always a fun tradition. Olivia is beginning to enjoy it more now that she is a little older.

Everyone got lots of eggs this year and made beautiful designs.

 

 To top it all off, we went searching for some more eggs outside.

 As usual, it was still a bit chilly - no surprises there!

In spite of the cold, we found almost all of the eggs. I'm sure the rest will surface...sometime.



Crossing Over

Ethan spent long hours working on his Cub Scouts and earned his Webelos Badge. From there, he spent the next 6 months earning his Arrow of Light Award! He is self-motivated and often would come to me and show me what he needed to work on in order to complete his awards. We spent some great time together working on these projects.

Ethan's pack had a crossing over ceremony for him the week before his 11th birthday. He was given his Webelos badge as well as his Arrow of Light award and a few activity pins as well.

Ethan was blessed to have some great leaders along the way. Sister DeKay was an amazing den leader, providing super cool things for them to do at Cub Scouts (according to Ethan). Brother Telford was on the ball with keeping track of what the boys had earned, and was very helpful in getting things passed off and helping us know what else was needed.

As you can see, Ethan was super excited about the ceremony - actually he really was, all day before we came, but he was too cool to show it when I took his picture.  After a lot of coaxing, I managed to get a few smiles from him.

Sister DeKay made some great treats for the night - even a crossing over cake and some bear paw cupcakes. It was a night to be remembered and I'm proud of my boy for his achievements. Now on to Boy Scouts with Brother Menlove.

 



Double Birthday!

Steven and Ethan are lucky enough to share a birthday. So we have double the fun on March 22nd. This year Ethan was turning 11 and Steven 29, cough, cough. We had the missionaries over for dinner and a lesson, so by the time we got around to presents and cake and ice cream, it was almost bedtime.

 Ethan was really happy to get a new watch, as his was lost in the mail after he left it at his cousin's house during the summer.

 He got some clothes, and a few other things, but finally, the most exciting present of all was to Ethan and Steven...

 A WHAT?! Actually it looks scary, but it's an air pellet gun. It's mainly Ethan's, but it's Steven's so he can monitor and train him to use it. Ethan's smiles are few and far between for the camera, so you can tell how happy he was for this present.

 And here are my two cute boys with their delicious cake with it's 3 sad candles. I guess Mom forgot she threw away all the old gross ones a few months back and never bought new ones.
Happy Birthday Steven and Ethan!!

New Year's Sledding

Some traditions are hard to shake! One of those at our house is the New Year's sledding activity on Bemis Hill. This has been going on for at least the last 7-8 years, maybe even more. When we moved to Roseau, it was a yearly Young Men/Young Women activity that they invited the branch to. Now it has just turned into a straight Branch activity. And the kids LOVE it. Especially when it's not -20 like it was last year.

 Sledding isn't the same without lots of food to share.

 Ethan was too hot and shed his coat first thing.

 Sister DeKay and Brenden

 The Elders showed up at 10 a.m. - they didn't get the memo that 10 really means 11:30.

 Eli went up and down the hill so fast, I barely caught any pictures of him.

 Here's Ethan's ride

 Getting funner...

 Even catching some air

 And the crash at the end.

 Not sure if Olivia can see or not...

 Elder Woolley decided to spin his sled beforehand

 And ended up like this

 And then this.

 This little girl has her Daddy wrapped!

 Not long after this, hoards of other people started showing up...I guess everyone else realized how fun New Year's at Bemis can be (or maybe it's just because it was 26 degrees this year and not -20 like last.)

Check off another successful year of sledding - may not make it back until next New Year's!