SCHOOL DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN

The kiddos started school on Monday. It hardly seems like we had a summer vacation at all. But, here we go again…

Mom & dad put on a happy face and got everybody ready for the day. It’s hard to watch them grow up.

 

Chandler- 4th grade. After day one, he said, “Mrs. Hack is the best 4th grade teacher a kid could ever have.”

Shelby- 3rd grade. She’s excited to have a teacher that she already knows and loves.

Harley- Kindergarten. Can you tell that she’s excited for her school adventure?

Tatum- Preschool starts next week, but for now she’s happy to have “girly time” every day with mom.

Walking in 100 degree weather to drop them off.

 

Sometimes it’s hard to be the only one left at home. At first, there was some sadness as we watched them go…

But, we’re all adjusting and we’re excited for the adventures ahead.

Good luck with the new school year, everyone!

CAMPING- JULY 2009

The weekend before school started, we took the fam up by Greer, AZ to do some camping, complete with quads, shooting, lake trip, beautiful scenery, cool weather, and good family and friends. Couldn’t have been more amazing.

Here’s our campsite. Perfect, huh?

     

This was the view from our tent. (I took this pic with my phone, so the colors didn’t come out right. But, I promise it was BEAUTIFUL!!!) Every morning we’d see an entire herd of elk in this pasture.

The “Taj-Mahal tent” :)

Harley loved the wildflowers. Can you tell?

Chandler loved collecting “cool things from nature”.

We discovered that Shelby likes bugs. She was finding all kinds of interesting ones, and they seemed to really like her, too.

 

Tatum loved the bugs, too. But, only after Shelby checked them out to make sure they were “nice bugs”.

Mom even got in on the butterfly holding.

On Friday our friends, the Buchanan’s with their 3 kiddos, joined us. Saturday, we went to a nearby lake. Chandler found a big ‘ol crawdad and Ryan Buchanan eventually hooked it on his fishing line. So the kids enjoyed watching it freak out.

As usually, Shelby found a cool bug to hold. This time it was a pretty aqua blue dragonfly. It’s hard to see in the pictures, but they were too cute to pass up putting on the blog.

 

It was the perfect trip to unwind right before heading back to school Monday. I think everybody had an awesome time! I know I did. :)

“SKILLS!”

Tatum (4 yrs old) just came in and said, "Mom, you wanna see my hip hop skills? I have 5 skills that you can't do, cuz you don't have hip hop skills!" Sure enough… I tried her "hip hop skills", and I don't have them. Bummer! ;)

View Full Album

Chivalry is DEAD!

Shelby (pushing past to get in the car first):

“Chandler, haven’t you ever heard of ‘LADIES FIRST’?”

Chandler (bothered by her very presence):

“Oh brother, Shelbs! That’s SO 80’s!!!”

Apparently chivalry died WAY back in the 80’s! ;)

Mistaken…

Harley came in today and said, “Mom, I was mistaken yesterday when I told you that I go to Kindergarten in 7 days. TODAY it’s only 7 days away. Silly me!” I can’t believe she’s heading off to FULL-DAY Kindergarten. I know she’s completely ready for the challenge, but I’M NOT!!!

I actually cry every time the kids go back to school. After every Fall Break… every Christmas Break… every Spring Break… and every Summer Break… I cry even thinking about it. (Here come the water works!)

Shelby even wrote a story at school last year about me being a baby. Her story said, “On break we got to go a lot of places. It was so fun that my mom cried while she was driving us to school. My mom loved spring break!”

Hopefully someday, they’ll realize that it’s THEM I loved… not the break. :)

 

DOUBLE DIGITS

How is it possible that I have a 10 YEAR OLD?!?! I’m not old enough to have kids, let alone a 10 year old, right? Ok… so maybe not. But still… How is it that they are getting so big SO FAST??? I can’t handle it!!!

Chandler had a fun b-day this year. He was able to celebrate his actual b-day with his Stewart cousins at Mesquite Grove Aquatic Center (BTW, it’s a super cheap and fun place to get out of the heat and play in the water for a while). Then, we had treats later that night. He requested individual cheesecakes, so that’s what we did. A little cheesecake with 10 candles…kind of funny! :)

Then last weekend, Chandler took 5 of his closest friends to see “ICE AGE 3”. Complete with popcorn and treats, it was the perfect party for him. After the movie, we went back to our house for treats and presents. Thanks to all for the thoughtful gifts. You obviously know Chandler VERY well.

What a fun group of boys! Chandler is lucky to have such great friends!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHAN-MAN!!!

VISITORS FROM WASHINGTON

Last week, we had the chance to spend some time with Eric’s brother Rik Stewart, his wife Heidi, and their 8 cool kiddos- Mason, Mattie, Ashley, Andrew, Ethan, Damon, Julia, & Merrik. We’ve seen Rik & Heidi a few times over the last year. We were able to go up to WA last Sept for Rik’s 10 year cancer survivor party, and then we cruised with them last January. But, our kids haven’t seen their cousins for 2 years, before Merrik was even born. So we were SO excited when they came here to visit the AZ fam. Still not sure why they chose to visit during the Summer. Don’t they know that an AZ Summer is hotter than “you know what”?

Anyway… We spent lots of time just hanging out, giving the kids time to get to know each other really well. We played a little wii, which was really fun…

 

Even Grandpa got involved…

We also did some swimming.

 

Uncle Rik was a good sport to let the kids climb on him…

Our camera can take pics under water. So the kiddos had a good time with that, too.

Here are some of our kids with their Halliday cousins…

We’re SO sad that Rik & Heidi’s family are gone, but have already made plans to try and visit them in WA next Summer. I think they learned their lesson about visiting AZ in the dead heat of Summer. YUCK!!!

PRIESTHOOD CAMP

Last year the Jameson family adopted a new tradition…

PRIESTHOOD CAMP!

Each summer, boys (8 yrs old & up) and the men in the family go on a camping trip. This isn’t your average camping trip, though. Priesthood camp is an opportunity for the boys to work on their scouting, faith in god requirements, & have spiritual experiences. The theme this year was “CALLED TO SERVE”. Each boy received a “mission call” a couple weeks before camp. Each call sent the boys to one of the missions served by one of the big boys “men”.(You’ll see later, why I use “” to describe the “men”).

Aunt Linsey used the theme to make a banner for the campsite…

And I made t-shirts for the boys to wear…

First they got to camp and set-up…

Then, they went on a hike. I heard it was somewhere between 3 & 20 miles long. So I guess we’ll never know just how long or hard it ACTUALLY was. ;)

 

That night, after dinner, they had a fireside by Papa. He gave them each a “Preach My Gospel” book, and talked to them about missionary service. Chandler said it was, “WAY COOL!”

After the fireside, the “men” (see those “” again???) got a few ideas about what foods might be better if you roast them over a fire.

So… they roasted the usuals, then Starburts, Zingers…

Ding Dongs, Twinkies…

& anything else they could think of. I was told that many of the items were “Heavenly”! Silly “men” boys!

The next day, they learned about the missions they were assigned to. Each boy was taught about the culture, food, geography, etc. Then, the men took time with their assigned boy to discuss an assigned section from “Preach My Gospel”. Then,they taught what they had learned to the rest of them.

After that, the boys all received “letters from home”. Before they left, those at home wrote letters to the boys. So the boys went off on their own and read their letters. LOVE THOSE BOYS!

 

After a little free time, they cleaned up camp and took the guns up the mountain to shoot them. Papa brought his Winchester pump-action 22, and Eric had just bought his Ruger 10/22. So the boys were very excited! Unfortunately, Eric’s brand new 10/22 jammed up after firing just a few rounds through it. Grrrrr… No harm though, Papa’s 22 worked like a champ. So they all got to have a turn.

When they finished shooting, they loaded up and headed for home.

Papa was pretty anxious to get home. While he was gone, their mission call came! Talk about anxiety! Papa was trying to be a trooper on the trip, but it was KILLING HIM not open it.

We met the guys at my parent’s house so they could open the call that poor Grammy had been staring at for 2 days.

And…

 

They’re going to The Democratic Republic of Congo! WHAT?!?! With my dad’s French history, they really hoped it would be to France, but they have faith, and understand that they are called to The DRC for a specific purpose. We think it will be an awesome adventure for them. They report to the MTC in Provo on August 31st, and will serve for 18 months.

What better way to end a weekend of learning about missions and missionary work, than to open a real mission call. We’ll keep you posted on how it goes for Grammy & Papa. Can’t wait to hear all the amazing stories…

Any ideas for next year’s Priesthood Camp theme???