Thanksgiving at John's House

This year we drove up to my brother John's house for Thanksgiving. It was great fun and the food was amazing! We took a few minutes to go show the kids the waterfall of Idaho Falls.

Art Night at the School

Levi's rocket Man

Levi's melted crayon feathered turkey

Seth's Alien in Underpants (I love that book!)

Halloween 2017

KELLIE, our PRINCESS. 

(She didn't want to wear her tiara to school, so it's not in the picture.)

LEVI, our FOX.

SETH, our DOG

MICAH, our COW

Kellie is 11

Kellie had a great 11th birthday!

Aaron in Hello, My Baby

Aaron participated in a musical this Fall, called Hello, My Baby. 

He was a plugger, or someone who sings on street corners, selling songs. He was amazing!

Levi's Pinewood Derby

Levi had a fun Pinewood Derby. He designed his car to look like a skeleton from Minecraft. 

He placed 7th overall, and had a great time.

Aaron's 16th Birthday

My oldest "baby" is 16 today!

Caleb is 13

We have another teenager!

Red Butte Gardens

We enjoyed a beautiful morning at Red Butte Gardens! 

Levi's Baptism

Levi was baptized on Saturday!

I love this picture of him- so bright and cheerful, just like him.

He was SO happy to spy a family of ducks while we were at the park taking pictures!

Our Car is Stolen...

While we were busy getting ready for the first day of school, we got a phone call (about 7 am) from the police department asking if we were missing a suburban. Truthfully, we had to go check. We hadn't been out for the day yet, and didn't even know. Sure enough, it was missing from our driveway.

Evidently somebody got into our car during the night (Matt's not entirely sure that he locked the car afteer he'd been out). I keep a bag in the car with diapers and coloring books that we usually take into the church with us on Sundays. Unfortunately, I had also dropped my keys into the bag, and since Matt was driving, I didn't think to retrieve them. Luckily, my ID and wallet were not also in the bag. 

Anyways, once they found the keys, they just took the suburban.

Our driveway is on an incline, so we always set the emergency brake to prevent it from rolling backwards. (We can't park in the garage because the suburban won't fit.) When they took the car, they did not unset the brake. They took the car to a park a few miles from our house, where they spun donuts and did all sorts of crazy maneuvers in the grass. Miraculously, they did not hit any of the many trees or lunch tables there.

I have to imagine that as the emergency brake heated up, it got to squealing something terrible, so they just abandoned the vehicle in the middle of the park. 

They did break the radio, and spilled beer in the front seat, but nothing else was stolen and the car was in good shape other than the front brakes, which we had to have replaced along with the rotors and struts.

Annoying, but it could have been so much worse, and at least we got our vehicle back. Crazy first day of school that we'll always remember. Matt stayed at the park with the police while the crime lab did their stuff, and I came home and got the kids off to school. They were able to get a few fingerprints, but to our knowledge, no arrests have been made yet.

First Day of Shool 2017

I now have FIVE kids in school!

Seth is in Kindergarten.

Levi is in 3rd grade.

Kellie is in 5th grade.

Caleb is in 7th grade and just started Jr. High.

Aaron is a sophomore and just started at the high school. 

(I don't know why he has a strange expression- perhaps because it's 6:30 in the morning?)