Albuquerque Turkeys

Music Man

We took the four oldest to see our friends the Shepherds in Music Man.  Ryan was Professor Harold Hill and his two girls Lucy was Amaryllis and Sophie was an upstanding citizen of Rivercity, Iowa.   It was such a fun show and they were all STARS!  Go Shepherds!  Afterwards, we enjoyed delicious cinnamon rolls at Frontier Pies across the street.

Sydney is an Artist

The First Completely Free Day of Summer

Arthur took the oldest four on a four-day backpacking trip the last few days before school started.  I love this tradition, and this time, it was only Bennett, Sydney and I at home.  We didn't have anything scheduled and it honestly felt like the first relaxing day I had all summer!   With things so delightfully quiet at home, Sydney and I got to tackle her agenda, which doesn't always get the first priority.  When we woke up the first day, she asked what we were doing that day.  I asked her what she wanted to do.  She said, "Let's make my princess pillow case!  Wait, let's have breakfast and go to chic-filet for lunch.  Wait, let's make the pillow case first and THEN have breakfast."  

I just let her call the shots.  And it was a good few days.

Daphne moving up to Middle School

Again.  I am old.  Here are Dallin and Daphne doing their registration paperwork and picking up their schedules at the middle school.

16th Anniversary

Arthur and I celebrated 16 of marriage this month.  I surprised Arthur with a picnic dinner up in the Sandias with a view of the city lights as the sun went down.  I feel so blessed to have the beautiful family we started 16 years ago on August 12, 1999.

Daphne turned 12 this year, and 12 is a "party year" at our house.  12 is a hard age to figure out what kind of party you want.  You're sort of done with character theme parties.  Princesses are past, so is stuff like Harry Potter.  Daphne went round and round on this.  All the ideas she came up with were already done by her other 12 year old friends, or we couldn't do them anyway because we lack the proper equipment (i.e. a pool).  I finally sent out the invitations, still without knowing exactly what we were going to do.  

But then I thought, Daphne loves art--how could we do an art themed party?  Well it just so happens that I know an artist so I called her up and asked if she would be interested in doing my 12-year-old's birthday party.  And she was game!  It turned out great.  She came and brought all the supplies and taught them how to do a painting of a peacock (Daphne's choice).  

Daphne and her friends had a fun time.  And Sydney loved it quite a lot.  At first she was worried about making mistakes and wanted me to draw it for her.  But after awhile, she scooted me out of the way and just took over.  I think we have another artist in the family.  :)

We are so blessed to have Daphne in our family.  She is a baker, an artist, a singer, so fun to be with, a good and thoughtful friend, and a kind and patient older sister.  Those 12 years went pretty fast.

Happy Birthday, Darling Daphne!

August 13th and 17th

First Days of School

Dallin & Daphne

6th & 8th Grades

I was nervous for Daphne's first day of middle school, but she did have a couple things going for her that made it easier.  She has an older brother at the same school, AND she'd already been attending show choir rehearsals so she had a place where she "belonged" and had made some friends there as well.

These guys are old pros

During those couple of days we went to Chick Fil A for lunch at Sydney's request.  I was thinking that without Sydney to invite me to take her to lunch at Chick Fil A, they won't be getting nearly as much business from me.   (I love ChickFilA but I can resist my own cravings easier than when my kids are asking for it too.) 

And finally the big day arrived!  

August 17th, Sydney's first day of Kindergarten!  

She's probably the most adorable Kindergartener there is.

Lucky for her, she has two big brothers to look out for her at school and sit by her on the bus. 

Ready to go with her Elsa back pack.  The zipper on that stupid thing didn't even last through the 2nd week.  Since then we've been holding it together with a safety pin.  

Off she goes with her class.  Right after this picture was taken I had to run after Bennett who had bolted for and was already on the playground.  

Meanwhile, on the homefront, Bennett's first act as the only child was this:

Ripping almost every page out of the Shutterfly book I made of our last trip to Hawaii.  

Horrific.  I was sick.

But he made up for it by taking a nap with me later, 

and you just can't be mad at that sweet sleeping face.

They all came home from their respective first days of school with glowing reports.  When I asked Sydney how her day was, she said, "AWESOME!"

It made me so glad to hear that they were happy at school.

August 12th

Last Day of Summer Vacation

Written by: Daphne

August 5-8

Turkey Creek, CO

Written by:  Dallin the awethome.

With the trunks totally and completed loaded full of stuff we'd be needing on our, "treacherous journey"

Little did they know of the torture that awaited them....

(Especially Hayden, cause it was his first time going)

Before

We lived off of fish, especially the Breinholts. They were positive they would catch something, since several of their meals had the main course as fish.

I'm glad we caught some fish. It was absolutely delicious

Showin' off the guns.

"Hey yo BABY! Check out da Gun-Show goin' on over HERE! Boom! BANG!!! Fire-Power!"

-Mr. Thinker from Night At The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Our happy little camp looked something like this.

Heading out after the first day of sleeping with a root in our backs. Still going strong!

This was probably the first time we ran into someone on the trail in all the years that we have done this. He was lost, had been out there for some weeks, was trying to hike to a totally different mountain, was super friendly, needed a friendly pointer in the right direction, and he decided that he would go back into town to buy some more food, then hike for several more weeks to get to where he was trying to go.

The classic water fall. Only the brave dare jump into the water that is probably below freezing during the hottest point of the day. I DID IT! I've done it for several years and it hasn't gotten any warmer. Like, at all.

The small group of "Elites" that had the courage, man-power, will-power, strength, tolerance, and all that fun stuff to jump in, swim across, pose, and not get hypothermia in the process.

Daphne and Rachael. The only girls that have gone on the backpacking trip.