Father Daughter Campout

Our YW presidency decided to invite the Activity Day girls to our young women father daughter camp out. This year we camped at Lake Almanor and our theme for the weekend was "You Can Be My Hero". It was a lot of fun to have the extra Dads and girls with us this year since we only have six young women.

We had good food, funny skits, lots of camp songs and of course a warm fire complete with smores. The next morning we listened to the dads tell about their favorite hero in the scriptures, took pictures with each girl and their dad, made cute picture frames, and went on a bike ride to the lake.

The weather was great, the girls got along, and the dads were a big help to have around.

Braces Off & Staples Out!

After 2 sets of braces and 4 years later Seth has finally ended his braces career.



Now smile and show us your pearly whites!



The orthodontist office gave Seth a fun treat of balloons, popcorn, sparkling cider, and a chocolate bar. Enjoy!

(Seth is now looking forward to eating apples whole without having to slice them.)



It was finally time to get the staples removed from Seth's leg. It was a little more painful having them removed than he thought and they weren't completely healed so he has to leave strips of Bandaides on for another week.



It's amazing how the body heals itself!

18 years!

WOW! Where has the time gone?!
Every year it just gets better and better!
Here's to another 18 years!

New Pet

We have a new pet! Yes, I know we're not a very animal loving family, but this creature made herself at home in our backyard. She doesn't take up much space, never makes any noise, we never have to feed her, and she even helps scare away pesty insects. We nicknamed her "Charlotte" because her webs are amazing!





P.S. I HATE SPIDERS! However, this amazing creature's web had me marveling in awe at her creative talent. It also got me thinking, hmmm, . . . aren't I paying for pest control every month? What a sneaky and beautiful spider you are Charlotte!

Galleons

Kiana's 4th grade class started learning about Galleons and for a school project they were able to make their very own. Then all of the 4th graders at Neal Dow took a field trip to One Mile to sail their boats. (They were required to test their boats ahead of time to make sure there would be no sinking boats.)

Aaron and I took our lunch break and went to see all of the different boats which were made out of wood, popsicle sticks, cardboard, empty soda bottles, milk cartons, etc. Kiana's was painted white and pink with clear jewel accents. She was very proud of her galleon, which she named Kiana Marie.

Almanor

Once again our dinner group families went cabining at Lake Almanor during Labor Day weekend. It has been a lot of fun seeing the kids grow up together these past few years and spend the weekend with friends. This year Andrea brought her friend Julia along with us.







On Saturday we decided to travel to Lassen Park and take the kids on a simple hike to see three lakes. (Terrace Lake, Shadow Lake, & Cliff Lake) We weren't able to make it to the last lake--the kids had finally had enough of hiking and just wanted to stop and enjoy the lake water.

During the weekend we enjoyed games, food, and laughter. We continued the tradition of family Olympics with some new events this year. (Hula hooping, Cheezit stacking, water bottle balancing, melt the ice cube, and nylon ball swinging)



On Sunday we took a drive to Soda Springs. We filled our water bottles with carbonated water from a natural spring and added some crystal light--YUM! (Well, it wasn't that tasty, but it was very interesting to see.)

Seth's Accident

Warning--this blog entry is not for everyone. If you don't like looking at pictures of an injury--please skip this one!

FULL STORY: It's a Friday morning. Seth wakes up and gets ready for school. He hops on his bike and starts riding to school (just like every day). He returns about a minute later with a fresh wound inflicted by his bike pedal. Seth composes himself fairly well (no crying) but as soon as I look at the cut, I know that it's not a simple scratch. I call Aaron, put a cool wash cloth over the wound,(no blood due to the deepness of the cut) and quickly take Kiana to school. When I come home Aaron and Seth are off to the doctor's office. I hope the cut only requires a bandage; Aaron says they'll probably put in some stitches. I head off to school, waiting for the call to let me know how things go.


Well . . . Seth was a trooper. The wound needed more than a bandage and the area of the leg where the cut was would not hold stitches. So . . . 11 STAPLES closed the wound. Yes, STAPLES! Aaron thought they were kidding at first when they told him. He said it actually looked like a staple gun. Seth did a great job, even though he said that the hardest and most painful part was the long needle they injected into the cut to numb the area.


Seth is healing well. He can't play P.E. until the staples are removed and he loves telling the story to everyone. He's also excited about the cool scar he will have in the future. I'm not too excited about letting him ride his bike again, but I guess a mother has to let her son move on--I'm just hoping there are no more staples in our future!