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!

Kiana's 9th Birthday

Kiana is now NINE!

She celebrated her special day with having her girlfriends over to swim, a pinata, and a yummy 3 layer cake.







She received a lot of fun gifts and then later that night she chose to go out to dinner with her family and grandparents to Hula's.





We think her favorite gift this year was her swimming baby!

Back to school

Yes, school has started. Is anyone happy about it? Well, not really, but we knew that the summer couldn't last forever!



Kiana is in 4th grade and will be learning about California History.

Seth is in 8th grade and has Spanish 1 as his elective.

Andrea is a 10th grader taking 2 honors classes--Whew!

It sounds like it's going to be a busy year!

Lake Philbrook

Our family loves going to Lake Philbrook above Paradise. After several summers of not going we finally fit a camping trip into our crazy summer schedule.


We took Grandma Leila & Grandpa Rick and our three cousins Drake, Bruce, & Reese with us. The weather was perfect, the Lake was beautiful, and the company was excellent.


Grandpa brought his fishing boat, the kids collected crawdads and frogs, and we enjoyed plenty of good camping food.


Did Andrea really kiss the frog?
Well, that's for you to figure out!

Lake Shasta

At the end of July we were able to go with Grandma Ruth & Grandpa Mike to Lake Shasta. They were able to bring their trailer and boat so we could REALLY enjoy camping and the lake. We also had a couple of our cousins come out from Utah (Brandon & Hayden) to join us in the fun.

Wow! Camping with a trailer is VERY nice. We were able to have a place to cook our meals, play some games without the mosquitoes, and even listen to some music and watch a video. At times it seemed like we weren't camping at all.


We were also able to spend some time on Lake Shasta. The water was the perfect temperature so we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! We tried the tube, wake board, and knee board.






I think one of the best times we had during our trip was swimming under the bridge. We took turns jumping off and swimming in the refreshing water--I almost didn't want to get out!

What a relaxing way to spend the summer! Next year we should definitely stay longer.

Lefebvre Reunion

Yep--this is pretty much all of us--we were only missing 2. That's pretty good when you try to get all seven kids, their spouses, and 18 grandkids, plus grandma & grandpa to pose for a "Happy Family Photo". We had family come all the way from Utah and Texas to participate in the reunion. We were also able to see the newest grandchild, Hazel Faye, be blessed in church.


On the first day of the reunion we all drove down to the Exploratorium in San Francisco. It was a great place to let the kids roam and enjoy the exhibits. My favorite was the musical bench. Aaron and I made it play music by kissing--he, he, he--so much fun!


After the Exploratorium we headed over to Pier 39. We enjoyed some delicious pizza at Luigi's for lunch, stopped by and saw the sea lions, and then looked at all the fun shops along the pier.


We had to stop by the beach before heading home. It was a beautiful sunny day in the morning, however by late afternoon the fog had set in. There was also a very cold wind, but the kids still had a great time looking for shells, playing in the sand, and running from the waves. Once again Seth got completely wet and enjoyed the ocean despite the freezing water.


Another fun activity our family did was a picnic lunch at 5 mile at Bidwell park here in Chico. There was a lot of food, family, and fun had by everyone!


We ended our reunion by going north to Redding and visiting with Grandpa Harold and swimming in Aunt Suzie's pool. It was a lot of fun to watch the cousins swim, play, and visit with each other.


It was another successful reunion--I wonder what we'll do in 2012?

Summertime!

Summer is always packed full of busy and fun activities. Here are just a few our family enjoyed.


It's just not summer without a lemonade stand.


Can you tell that Kiana has figured out the break down of a dollar?!


We signed Kiana up for the Aqua Jets swim team this summer. She loved it!


Seth was able to go out with his scout buddies and go fishing.


This year the stake held an encampment for all the young men. One of the activities was white water rafting. Aaron was able to go for a couple of days and join in on some of the fun.




Andrea continues to enjoy taking pictures. Here are a few at look out point at sunset.

A rare moment of sisterly love.

4th of July

During the 4th of July weekend we were able to borrow a houseboat on Lake Oroville for a day. We had a great time! Water, food, & family made it even better. Aaron's brother Ron & his family were also able to come up for the holiday weekend.



Besides have the houseboat to relax and swim by, we also had Grandpa Mike's boat to use. The tube & the knee board were our favorite.



Kiana doesn't enjoy the boating toys very much, but she LOVES driving the boat!



Every time Seth gets on the tube he is always teasing Aaron to try and flip him off. It didn't happen on this trip, but I have a feeling that it will happen very soon.



"Should we jump off the houseboat???"



YES! JUMP!!!



All of this water, fun, & sun can really wipe you out!

Seth's Birthday

My sweet, little boy turned 13. He is still sweet (sometimes), but not so little anymore. All he seemed to ask for his birthday was for some food & fun!

Seth opened a few gifts at breakfast while enjoying eggs, sausage, & cinnamon rolls. He then spent the most of the day playing a new video game called "Fire Fighter". After enjoying his own personal pizza from Olive Garden, his grandparents came down to have some dessert, watch the opening of more gifts, and sing Happy Birthday to Seth.

Seth may be growing up, but he is still quite silly & goofy--boys will be boys!

Girl's Camp 2010

Once again, I was asked to be a leader at Girl's camp. For the past two years I was the 3rd level leader and I took all of the 14 year old girls in the Chico Stake on an overnight hike. This year they asked if I would be the 4th level leader and take all of the 15 year olds on a two day overnight hike. I have to admit that I often complain about camping and all the work that goes into this girl's camp assignment. However, this year when I received the call to be the 4th level leader I was THRILLED! I just had these amazing girls the previous year and now I would be with them again. It felt like a reunion--I could hardly wait for Girl's Camp to arrive!

This year for Girl's Camp the theme was "Fear thou not, for I am with thee." Isaiah 41:10 The fourth level girls were called the "Stripling Warriors". They looked so official in their costumes!


Again, my dad was able to be one of the priesthood and go with us on our hike. We also had Bro. Danz from Paradise come too. The girls loved having the priesthood along and gave them both nicknames for the week. "Bear" & "Wilson" were a lot of fun to have along on the hike and they made sure to keep us safe--especially since they found bear tracks the week before we arrived!



Since Girl's camp is only 5 days and 4 nights and we were gone two of those nights, most of our time was spent together on our overnight hike. We made sure to keep the girls busy, but to also have some fun. We cooked meals over a fire, crossed a creek with our packs (no one fell in like last year), filter our own drinking water, hiked to a waterfall, found a snake, made our own latrine, viewed constellations, went bullfrog hunting,and started our own fire, & kissed a frog!


The week went by so fast, but we came home with a lot of fun memories and pictures. The 4th level girls were also able to pray and work together to choose a new Girl's Camp theme for next year. The 2011 Girl's Camp theme is,

"You are truly royal spirit daughters of the Almighty God. You are princesses, destined to become queens. Your own wondrous story has already begun. Your once upon a time is now." President Dieter F. Uchtdorf


A big thanks to Robin Cook who came as my assistant. She had such a great attitude and we both loved being leaders to this wonderful group of girls and to also have our oldest daughters with us too.