Our 2012 Year in Review: H & S family

A few random highlights from last year. And someday I will have Kim personally 

tutor me on the finer points of blogger formatting. A side note: My apologies to
posting late, I had temporarily lost my post. Apparently, I also need a lesson
in delay timed posting. 

The obligatory hike to Intermittent
Spings during Thanksgiving.

On our way to the Renaissance Festival
Stay tuned for more Ren Faire later on in this post!

Halloween 2012
Skye: Zombie Princess
Gavin: Ghost
Spencer: The 10th Doctor on Dr Who

Archery @ RenFaire

Leopard Slug found in our backyard.
These are apparently common in the
Northwest, but I've never seen them in Utah.
Sidenote: Their slime does not come off your hands
with normal dish soap (I tried 3 times!) You have to
scrub it off with a towel.

Date night with Dennis to see the Avengers.

Porter, Spencer, and Ethan at Renfaire.

Renfaire: Posing with a skeleton in a hanging cage. I told the kids
that if they didn't behave, they would end up in the hang cage as well.
Eden later asked if I would really do that to them. I assured her
that I was just teasing. I did feel a little guilty that she
took it rather seriously...she was well behaved though.

Ethan playing last game of La Roca soccer.

Renfaire: Note the look of incredulity on Sean's face. His
penchant for snarky comments were put to excessive use
while we tarried at what he termed the "freak fest".

La Roca- last game.

What you can't see is the deep & nasty bite mark on the under
side of his lip. This is a result of a surprise high bounce on the
trampoline.

A day at Pineview. Spencer on a boat.

Rainy 24th of July parade.

First day of school.

Spencer on a beach.

First day of preschool.

Adventures in Yellowstone. I'll have to blog about this separately
sometime. Or, better idea, make Sean do it!

My personal favorite. Skye is "falling" into a steam vent.

This one is for David. The sign reads "Leather Pool".
They named a pool after me, David!

Getting frisky in Yellowstone.

Planking in Yellowstone.

The Grand Tetons mocking me from a distance.

My bro took this shot of me in "Joseph" doing the  candlestick with
Joseph.  I was pleased to see my costume hadn't hiked up to
my skivvies (which it sometimes did), nobody wants to see that.
Also, my wig didn't fly off and I wasn't dropped (both of which had
happened before), another plus.

I'll leave you all with this picture of  "Christmas Cinnamon Rolls",
or, "New Year's Resolution  Busters" as they since have become known.
Just to remind you all how hungry y'all are.
THE END....or is it?!!

Summer in Washington

Terrific news!  We are FINALLY ready to sell our Utah house and our realtor has recommended that we list it for much more than we had expected. Wahoo!  Truthfully, I can't wait to see the pictures they took online because I haven't seen everything redone yet.

I was going to post pictures here for those of you that haven't seen our apartment yet, but I can't find them.  I guess I'll have to take them again.  That will have to wait until our house is all clean.  I'm working again so...well, just don't hold your breath on that one.

Instead, here are pictures of some of the fun things we've done here (well, May to July). I may be just a wee bit behind on my blogging.

First, a super windy hike up Badger Mountain.

See, it's not all ugly.  But, yeah, most of it is ugly.  

I just really loved these two girls sitting here together.  

Next-the POOL!  We've had a lot of fun.  Jack is totally fearless with his jacket on.  Unfortunately, he's also becoming totally fearless without his jacket. I'm not sure where Dalton was this day; he must have been playing with friends.

The kids just really loved Jack's feet in this picture.  He's still walking fine, in case you were wondering. 

We got to watch fireworks on the riverbank this year.  Unfortunately, we ended up being too far away from the show, so the best part was just hanging out on the bank together.

Dalton was in Utah this week, but we were thinking of him. Dave constantly teases Dalton by calling these "Canadian Geese" (they're Canada Geese).  So this one's for Dalton. 

And last but not least, we also had a fun stake pioneer activity.  They asked kids to dress up as pioneers.

We tried to dress Jack up as a pioneer boy.

But that didn't last too long.

The girls were super cute in their bonnets.

Though Lucy's 'street style' showed through in the end.

And Dalton (who I hardly ever seem to have pictures of) was too cool (sigh) to dress up, but was happy to come and eat the food.  :)

Love you and miss you all!

Richy & Kari's Fam

Well here goes nothin'.  We had our family pictures taken in September and I took some pictures at the same time so here's some shots of the kids.

It's so strange to see a still picture of my kids, they always look so much older.  I can't believe our older kids are getting so grown up.

Here's Porter, my handsome young gentleman.  He didn't really want to take pictures, but he put on a good face anyway.

My beautiful Paige, all grown up.  She asked if I would do these little curls.  It took a long time, but it was well worth it.

Little Miss Eden.  She is growing up and looking so mature.  She had wanted her hair cut short(up to her chin) and I said she had to wait until after pictures.  So after pictures we came home and cut her hair.

Lincoln's such a goof.  Half of my pictures he's pulling a silly face and here's proof of that.

For how boyish Bella is she sure cleans up nicely and takes a beautiful picture.  I can't believe she's five now.

My baby!  It's so fun and so crazy to have my youngest get so big!  Richy gave the kids blessings at the first of the year and blessed her to continue to be the ball of energy that she is.  And that's the truth!

I was so pleased with our pictures.  Ivy is always amazing.  I love being a mom and having the opportunity to raise these beautiful little spirits.  

Woodbury Family Goal 2013

I have some of my best ideas while nursing that new baby of mine.  Perhaps I'm closer to the spirit because I'm so close to the one who just came from our Father in Heaven.  Or maybe its because there isn't a single other sound in the house at 4 am... whatever it is, as long as I have to be up to feed that sweet baby of mine, I'll take the good ideas!

This idea came from thinking about FHE.  We have a big family, as you know, and each person has something they are responsible for on Monday night.  Since we just added a new member to our family I was brainstorming something to add to our FHE.  And then it hit me! 

Service.

So, the goal is that we, as a family have a service project each week.  Obviously, some will be more work than others.  But the idea is that we will do it together and then in FHE, we will report on the week's service and keep a journal.  I think its going to be great!  I came up with a list of around 60 ideas, and many of them can be used more than once.  So, the person in charge of service for FHE that week will get to choose our project and be project manager.  Then we will have the week to work on it.

I have my list typed up in a word document if anyone wants it.  What about you guys?  Any goals you're working on?

Hey Everybody, Happy 2013!

I know everyone is busy... I get it.  But I think we should try to utilize this little connection of ours on the inter web.  So, I'm proposing that we have someone blog here once a week.  Each family/couple/adult takes a turn.  It doesn't have to be anything fancy, just something.  We could have a schedule similar to the Sunday dinner schedule...

Week of:
Jan. 6: Kim & Ethan
Jan. 13: Richy & Kari
Jan. 20: Dave & Adrienne
Jan. 27: Sean & Heather
Feb. 3: Dennis
Feb. 10: Mom & Dad

Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

What say you?  You only have to do something once every 6 weeks, surely that's not too much to ask of your busy lives.  It can just be something funny someone in your family said.  It could be a recipe you tried and loved.  It could be about your goals and how you're doing working on them.  Maybe you need us to pray for you for something (a job, a move, health, patience).  It could be something fun your family did.  Or a birthday greeting. Or a joke.  Or a movie review.  Do you get my point, it can be anything, just something to keep us more connected.

I'm going to assume that you all think this is a fabulous idea and I will start us off with a new post for this week.  And I can post a schedule when I hear from y'all that you are, indeed, in!