{Fall Recap}

This was Hailey's first day of 1st grade! A big step for her and mom, to have her gone at school all day. She handled it great though; she was ready for this next big kid step!

Here's Ms. Elliot welcoming her to class.

It's kind of ironic that I am finally posting about this now, because tomorrow is Hailey's last day of 1st grade. (It's been way too long since I've posted!) She has had such a great year and learned so much! She thrives in school and we are so proud of the responsible young lady she is growing into. I can hardly believe how big she is getting! When Hailey was a tiny thing sitting the grocery cart, the little old ladies at the store always told me how quickly they grow up. I believe them. Childhood has a way of slipping gracefully through your fingers, as it should. I wouldn't want her not to progress, I just feel like I'm anxiously chasing a dancing ribbon in the breeze, propelled by my maternal questions: "Have I taught her enough to do it on her own? Will she make the right choices? Am I enjoying each day of her youth and innocence to the fullest?" It goes so quickly. One more school year gone.

. . . getting back on track . . .

Brandon and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary last September. For part of our date night, we decided to hike Badger Mountain. We laugh a little about that title due to our Utah and Idaho roots; if you can walk to the top and back down to the bottom in under an hour, it seems to be a bit more like a "hill" than a "mountain." But that's alright, we don't mind that Tri-Citian's take pride in their landmasses!

This kinda gives you a feel for the area: what's not sagebrush is farm land, unless your by the river. It's hard to see here, but the river is beautiful along with it's surrounding areas.

I miss real mountains, but it still felt good to hike to the top of something and glory in God's good earth.

Later in September, Hailey and Tanner got dressed up for the "Mustang Round-Up," a fair that the school puts on each year. (Their mascot is a mustang.)

They were supper excited to go, but apparently being a cowboy is very serious business.

We discovered a walking trail near the river here that we really enjoy. The river really is a redeeming part of the landscape here.

It's an adventure for the kids to explore this mini forest. (We did have to reassure them that there were no wolves or bears lurking among the trees.) It kinda reminds me of the gully near my house growing up that we used to hike through.

Follow the leader . . .

We always love a visit from Grandma!

(A little side note about Hailey's pose here: she was wearing brand new shoes and brand new pants so she already started the day feeling like a million bucks. At school, someone told her that she looked like a rock star. So she ended her day feeling like more than a million bucks -- she felt like a rock star! I think that added a little more sass to her pose; as if she needed any help striking a sassy pose!)

For Halloween we had a ninja . . .

a clone-trooper . . .

and a mini Clark Kent . . . (a repeat of Tanner's a couple years ago, but still cute!)

. . . a force to be reckoned with! (with or without Halloween costumes!)

p.s. Kalila didn't make it.

Kalila the Caterpillar - (Authored by Hailey)

Tanner found a caterpillar. I named it Kalila and put it into some tupperware with some grass, two rocks, and two branches with little leaves. A couple days later, I found Kalila

inside a cocoon on a rock. I will let it go when it is a butterfly.

The Gospel According to Tanner

A few weeks ago, we were sitting in sacrament meeting getting ready to sing "I Stand All Amazed." Tanner surprised us at the end of the intro by singing the last line of the chorus, "...oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me." Then he turned to us with a smile and said, "Hey! It's the 'Oh Wonderful to Me' song!"

While praying for his lunch last week, Tanner added at the end of his prayer, "and thank you that Jesus lives far, far away so the bad guys don't know where to find Him."

We were reading scriptures one night and we were talking about being resurrected. At one point in the conversation Tanner slightly concerned stated, "But when we are resurrected, we won't wear shoes anymore!" Have you ever seen a painting of the resurrected Savoir wearing shoes? Neither has Tanner. I'm glad to know that he is paying attention.

We took a trip to the pumpkin patch . . .

Hailey: "Tanner, let's pretend we're on a date!"

After finding the perfect pumpkins, Noah was anxious to get everybody home.

{ Summer Recap }

We had lots of fun summer days this year . . . here is a sampling of a few . . .

We love the perk of Papa Dennis' traveling job when the traveling brings him up here!

I feel like I should throw some "royal" pun in here, but I'll just let you come up with something on your own. Maybe you can also come up with a reason why the knight behind Hailey has two eggs painted on his ribs.

Brandon and the kids made me a delicious cake topped with strawberries (my favorite!) for my 27th birthday.

Here we have Hailey ready for . . . battle, or boating, or Halloween?

This was Tanner's first year experiencing the ward father-son camp-out. Tanner loved playing in the dirt with all the big boys, sleeping in the van with Daddy, and of course -- one of his top 10 favorite things to do -- throwing rocks in the water!

Sprinkler parks are always fun . . .

Unfortunately, I am TERRIBLE about remembering to get the camera out when we get together with family, but I did manage to capture this silly moment with Hailey and Cade when the Hansen's came all the way from Georgia to visit this summer. Cade was monologuing in a silly accent and making Hailey giggle uncontrollably!

This much I know: boys love rocks!

More water fun!

Hailey learned to swim this summer; can you tell?

Noah was trying out a hairpiece, but it didn't work in the water as well as advertised.

In this business trip for Papa Dennis, Gramma Marti got to come along for the ride. We babysat her while he was at work.

Tanner had a little mishap with one of our bar stools and it landed square on his nose. These pictures don't look too dramatic and probably wouldn't have even been considered blog worthy, but he was in such a funny mood, the pictures just make us laugh!

Come to mention it, Tanner makes us laugh frequently. So does his super-hero-stuff sister!

Brandon celebrated his 30th birthday this year. I thought I was being really fancy by making him a layered ice cream cake. It turns out that it tastes just like cake and ice cream, but it's more work than the traditional method. Something to keep in mind, but I'm glad I tried it.

And last, but not least, Grammie Sherri capped off the summer with a visit to our house. We were lucky enough to see Uncle Ian for a couple days, too. But of course, I managed to miss documenting that as well. (Not to mention our trip to Salmon, ID over the 4th of July when we saw the Hendershots, Hansens and Grammie. Sometimes I wonder why I even have a camera.)