It's back to school for Abby

Well the summer went by so fast that I still can't seem to realize that each morning we need to get Abby up for school. Abby gets up at 6:30 am and after getting ready rides her bike to the end of our lane to catch the bus, which usually arrives at 7:15. I usually join the ride to the bus stop with my bike and bike trailer attached with several kids riding and the dog running along side too. I am sure the bus driver wonders about our little send off party. Next year Abby will have Malia to ride with her. Abby rides the bus for 45 min and reads to pass the time.

Abby is in the third grade and has a great teacher. She loves music, PE and art the best. This first week of school she was asked to help in the cafeteria serving food and enjoyed that. It will be a good year. Abby's teacher said they would be learning cursive writing and multiplication. Since I still struggle with my multiplication and have since I was in grade school maybe Abby can teach me a trick or two to learning them.

Lily Walking

Lily is off and walking..... She has been holding our hands and walking all over the place for a long time now. Finally she is braving it on her own.

She is so happy to be independent and has great balance on flat surfaces, the grass slope outside gets her every time.
See the boy in the background? The one with the blanket and binkie? That's Hunter, our only boy and only kid ever attached to a blanket and binkie!!! AAAAHHHHH!!!!
Here is Lily getting into her walker all by herself. I guess she doesn't need that anymore. It is fun when your kids learn to walk because they don't need your help as much to get around. Knowing this is our last little one to watch go through that process leaves a little pang in my heart.

Sleeping on the tramp.

Abby and Malia were begging to sleep on the trampoline, but not quite brave enough to do it alone, so they got Cline to sleep with them. They felt pretty safe in their tent with Cline in his own next to them.I enjoyed looking at all the stars in the night sky and then slept in my own bed. I am not a real outdoor sleeper and the trampoline is like sleeping on a giant water bed. The girls had a great time.
Nothing says summer like fresh corn on the cob. Abby had lost three teeth recently and had a bit of trouble eating corn this year. She is fascinated by the kernels left from her absent teeth.

I Love To See The Temple

We took a little day trip to Twin Falls the first week in August. We took all four kids with us to the Twin Falls temple open house. The temple is beautiful and we are glad we took the trip. It was a challenge keeping Lily and Hunter quiet but all in all it was nice. Abby loved the HUGE chandelier in the Celestial room, Cline loved the animals painted in the endowment room, I loved the mirrors in the sealing room, Malia liked the "sparkly room" which was the Celestial room and Hunter really wanted to swim in the Baptismal font!!!
We went on a really hot day and the kids were glad to have cookies and ice water in the chapel after the tour. The temple grounds were beautiful, but nothing compares to these cute kids!!!
While in Twin Falls we drove to the Shoshone Falls (very small in background) for a brief look.
On the way to the falls we saw an elk park with lots of big bull elk and Cline took more pictures of them than of us at the temple...Hummmmm .... what to make of that?????? It was a great day, except that Cline got pulled over for speeding with all of us in the car. Good lesson for the kids though.

Summer Garden

Each summer we plant a garden and eat fresh veggies and fruit throughout the summer months. Sometimes the zuchini gets a little to big for me to eat ( I am the only one who eats it fresh) and so Uncle Scott showed the girls how to make a zuchini boat and they floated them down the ditch outside our house. Cline is the chief weeder and picker and I do most of the canning and freezing. This year we have made freezer jam and beans and the tomatoes are coming on so spaghetti sauce will be next to can. We have our first crop of apples from our trees so apple sauce is in order. Our peaches and pears only produced enough this year to eat so we enjoyed those fresh. I always feel a sense of satisfaction when I look at our garden and it's resulting produce on the shelves.