Family hike

One weekend after school started we went on a family hike - sans Brock (dang football).  It was our only family hike of the summer.  Hopefully we can do more next summer.

We hiked Lair O' Bear which is a great flat, shaded, fun, river hike.  We probably made it about a mile.  haha.  But we sure had fun in the river and climbing trees.

Dane refused to be in the picture.

 

New car adventures

 Jason has needed a new car for a few years.  I was hoping it would make it a few more years so the boys could drive it, but it didn't.  Jason found a car in Utah he wanted to buy and decided to take Madison with him on a little trip (our niece, Caroline was also getting baptized that weekend so it was a great excuse).  Well... we waited a bit too long I guess because 2 hours into the drive the car broke down.  For real.  They were stranded on the side of I-70 for a few hours.  Eventually he got it to turn on again for a few miles and  then it would die again.  He did this for the next several hours until it wouldn't do it again (about 20 minutes form home).  He called Brother Enos (his seminary teaching companion) and he came and picked them up.  They came home, purchased plane tickets, flew to Utah, went to the baptism, bought the car and then drove it home.   Turns out Madison thought the whole thing was great - even getting stranded.  Jason told funny stories and made it really fun, and on top of all of it she got to ride in a plane for  the first time AND got an Iceberg - so... you know... life couldn't get any better!

When she came home a few Sundays later she bore her testimony in Sacrament meeting about how she wasn't scared and knew Heavenly Father was watching out for them and that it would all be ok.  

**After I wrote this Madison read it and reminded me that I forgot to mention that when they got to the airport they flight got delayed for 3 hours and they didn't make it to Utah until about 3 am.  So all in all, it was a long day - it took about 20 hours to get to Utah.

Madison’s birthday

Maddie turned 11.  She wasn't supposed to get a party this year, but she didn't' have a party last year because she couldn't decide what to do or who to invite.  This year almost followed the same path, as several times she said, " I don't know, lets just not do it".  She ended up settling on a small party going roller skating and out for ice cream.  They had a great time skating for hours and hours.  They cracked me up.  She killed it in limbo and also made out pretty good with her presents - I think she ended up with like 40 dollars in Target gift cards - plus presents.  It was a pretty sweet party for me as well, literally zero planning and I got to sit at a table and plan my Relief Society lesson for 3 hours.  

On her real birthday she asked for Oreo balls for her cake.

 

Here are some cute pictures of Maddie.

Madison at age 11.

• Madison's life has changed a lot over the last year.  A year ago she didn't have a party because her best friends were the boys in her grade that she played football with and she felt weird about just inviting boys.  This year she has reconnected with some friends she had in 3rd grade and has become a social butterfly.  She is out the door as soon as she c an be to meet up with her friends and stays after school as late as she can.  I would say her life right now is her friends.
• She really likes to play with the babies.  She is the only one to do it without being asked.  It is funny becasue she is also the only one that fights with them.  I thought there was too much of a gap to fight, but turns out there isn't.
• Maddie has found her own style and has a really great fashion sense.  
• Obviously we interchange between Maddie and Madison (and Mads).  But at school she is STRICLY Maddie and she hates when anyone outside of the family calls her Mads.
• She starts Young Women's this year and she is very excited, although she is going to miss activity days (she loved her leaders).  Her and I have also enjoyed spending time together on Tuesdays at 7 when the others are at mutual - we are both going to miss that.
• Madison can be friends with anyone.  She gets along with everyone at church, school, activities, sports, neighborhood, etc.  She is just a fun person and people are drawn to her.
• She is a great baker, loves watching home videos, she enjoys playing with Lego's down stairs, sometimes doing a craft, riding bikes (sort of stopped roller blading), going to the mall, Target, or King Soopers, reading, she she is one of my best helpers when it comes to organizing or decorating.
• Maddie is always up for a good time and is always trying to get us to do fun things together.  Mads makes everything fun.

Miles come and epic last week of “summer”

Kasey, Jason's sister, asked if I could watch Miles for a week in the summer.  My kids go back to school insanely early (August 6th) so I had him come then, so we could just spend our days playing.  It was so fun to have him come.  He was so excited about everything we did and since it was still "summer" but the kids were in school, we got to go somewhere fun everyday and it wasn't busy at all.  

Ready for our week?  Here we go.

On day one we went to the mall to play at their indoor play area and then to the aquarium.

On day 2 we went to Bellview Park, played in the river and rode the train.

Day three we went to open gym at our local gymnastics place.

I was babysitting Watson so he came too

Day four we went swimming.

We also had a lot of time at home playing.  

He was so fun to have and he was really cute with the babies.