Happy Birthday Joseph!!!

Happy Birthday Joseph!! Joseph is definitely a ray of sunshine in our home. He usually is the first one up in the morning and greets me with a smile and "good morning". He is always happy and can put a positive spin on almost everything. He is very social and loves to play with cousins, friends, and new friends he makes where ever he goes. He keeps us laughing with all the funny things he says. He had a halloween birthday party with all his friends dressing up. We also celebrated on his birthday up at Oma and Opa's house with cousins.
Garage sale Presents:

Since Joseph is my last child, I have a really hard time buying new toys when I know I will get rid of them soon. Also, Joseph already has toys from his older brothers (legos, brio train, action figures, etc). For his presents this year I found all these great things at garage sales. I think the total I spent was 13.50. $5 for 28 chevron car collection. $7 dollars for a playmobile pirate treasure set and viking ship and 50 cents for 2 robots and 50 cents for a beanie baby. Joseph was thrilled will all his gifts and I don't get mad when he loses all the teeny tiny playmobile pieces.:)

Josh joins the Eagle's Nest

Josh received his eagle scout award on Sunday. We are proud of his diligence and work it took for him to accomplish this. During the ceremony they ask any eagle scouts to come forward and sit in the front in the "eagle's nest". Josh enjoyed watching the live eagle show from the "eagle's nest" with the many other eagle scouts that were present. Way to go Josh!!!!

"Old fashion" Photos

We went up to Grandpa's Bear Lake Farm House for Labor Day weekend. On Sunday we had some time to spare before church and I convinced a few of the children to come outside to take pictures around the property. I put the pictures in Sepia, because the kids had on really random colors. When Joseph saw them in Sepia format, he said, "wait I don't remember being old." I told him, no I made it look that way and he said, "a yeah old fashion like you." ha ha :) I think next time we are up there I will try to do a "real" photo shoot and coordinate the outfits and talk the older boys into participating.

Missionary update/news

Here is just a little excerpt from Johnny's letter today. He is an AP and has been traveling to different parts of the mission lately. He comes home December 21. For Christmas we are giving Johnny a trip back to Greece with us so he can show us the sites he been to and people he has met while over there. His mission president's wife has a blog about the mission, it is greeceathensmission.blogspot.com.

"Well this week went well. First off we went to Cyprus, and it was amazing there. Very hot, but amazing. There was a different spirit there. The zone conference went great, and then we had the opportunity to do exchanges with the missionaries. In Cyprus they teach a lot of foreigners who come there to study at foreign colleges. Most of them are from Nepal, India, and China. They are really humble, and about seventy percent of the members whom are in Nicosia are foreigners, there is not a single Cypriot member in the branch (similar stories in the other cities of Cyprus).

The first exchange was with the zone leaders there, and we taught a few lessons, one to a nepalese man, who was really humble, they had taught him the word of wisdom from before, and asked if he had started following this, and he said, “We must follow.”, and then we continued to teach him the law of chastity and tithing, and when we asked him if he would follow, it was the same answer, “Of course. We must follow.” It was amazing to teach someone so humble and so ready. Also, a Chinese girl, and she was very accepting, but also in a different way –so very childlike, but not childish if you understand what I mean. these people are so different than anything that I have encountered in my mission, it was amazing to teach, and really easy to talk to them. I loved it.

The next exchange I did with a german elder who is struggling because his companion is not wanting to work so much, and so we did a lot of contacting on our exchange. It was good for me too. We did street contacting during the night and our goal was to get ten names. We ended up with nine names in one night, and gave out a Book of Mormon. I almost beat my record for amount of names. Also, while contacting I talked to a few young Cypriot young people. And the language Cypriot is so different from Greek it is absolutely amazing. Sure I could understand a little, but I had to have him repeat it a few times, because they use different accent, words, and word order. It was fun though, I learned a few phrases while I was there."

Enrichment Meeting: Mother/Daughter Luau-Camp-out

Every August our ward has a mother-daughter camp out. I never get much sleep but this is one event that we never miss. This year I was in charge of the event and we did a Luau theme. My Samoan friend, Sharon, taught some of the girls traditional Hawaiian dances for an authentic Luau show. It was fabulous!! I did tell Natalie after the performance that she was not allowed to move her hips like that at her school dances. :) Caroline loved playing night games with all the other girls around the property. Natalie loved learning the hula and slap dance. I was thrilled that everything went relatively smoothly. I think we had about 150 people attend. I discovered a yummy roasted marshmallow treat.

Camp fire lemon meringue "pie" treat:

1 Sandie brand shortbread cookie

dollop of lemon curd (buy at store--looks like pudding)

1 roasted marshmallow.

First Day of School!

Josh-Senior, Natalie-Sophomore, Jake--Freshman
Caroline--6th grade
Joseph --1st grade

School started last week with mixed reviews. After the first day of school only Joseph was still excited about school. This is the first time in 21 years I will be home alone for 6 hours. I am a little sad that the young children stage is over, but excited to finally have time to get some things accomplished that I put on the "shelf" for awhile.

Deep Cleaning

The summer's busy activities, fun trips and the kids home all day has taken it's toll on our house . I realized how messy and disorganized the house has become. So for the last week of summer we have been trying to deep clean. I told the kids to find something to clean/organized and do it. There was less complaining since they chose their own chores. Some picked cupboards to organize, others washed walls, dusted, and Jake decided to clean the top of the cabinets. It was amazing how much was accomplished with everyone working together. We still are not done and I think the kids are excited to finally start school tomorrow.

High School Soccer Team!!!

Natalie made the High School Soccer team. She is on Varsity, but also plays with the Junior Varsity. It is a brand new High School so the teams are made up of mostly Sophomores and Freshman with a few Juniors and Seniors. Even-though their team is young they have won their two preseason games. Natalie loves the sweats, uniforms, bus ride to games, cool girls and coaches, and seeing the football guys practicing on the field next to them.

Jake's new look

Before

After

I was actually sad when Jake had his signature mole removed this week. He has had this mole since birth and was his little beauty mark. It was starting to grow so the Doctor advised having it removed. Jake loves having a "cool" scar on his cheek instead (14 stitches). He has been making up all sorts of stories to go with it. His latest is that he got caught on a barb wire fence. The Dr. actually said that in about 6 months it will not be noticeable at all. With or without the "beauty" mark, we think Jake is handsome young man. (Top picture--we thought the store sign was great and made Jake take a picture under it)

Great things for families to do at Grand Teton National Park

1. Take the ferry ride to Hidden Falls and then hike the 2 1/2 miles back(make sure your six year old does not wear flip flops).

2. Camp at Colter Bay--roast Starbursts over the campfire

3. Swim and hang out at Jackson Lake

4. Canoe down the snake river from Jackson Dam to first take out point--you will see a lot of beavers, otters, and eagles. This is where we saw a moose and deer.

5. Junior Ranger Program

6. Hike and swim at String Lake

7. Go to Jackson Hole--Go to Yippee-i-o Candy Co. and to a musical at the cute western theater.

8. Get a chocolate ice cream to go at Jackson lake lodge and enjoy the big picture window view.

9. Picnic and Fish

10. Bring games to play (Ticket to Ride, Goblet, Apples to Apples, Blink, and Racko were favorites)

11. Play charades around the campfire.

12 Enjoy the beautiful amazing scenery!!!! :D