Summer Break

As I sat down to post my weekend pictures, I noticed the last posting date for this blog. Apparently I took summer break literally. I stopped doing all my regular life and went into vacation mode.

We had a great summer. We drove west and saw beautiful farm land, tried Wisconsin cheese, put pennies on the railroad tracks to get flattened and actually entered North Dakota.

We met up with Jim's parents and brother Joe and family in the Mount Rushmore area. We saw beautiful mountains, fascinating caves, fed the wild donkeys,

and dug for mammoth bones.

We then headed west again and ended up in Oregon at Honeymon park with our Lathen relatives. There we played on the sand dunes, explored tide pools, rode inner tubes behind the boat, and ate delicious clam chowder.

Our next stop took us east again to the Atkinson camping reunion.

There we cooled off in the creek, enjoyed mountain walks,

played lots of card games and missed having Jim there.

After a time in Idaho we stayed the night in Provo with Amberly and picked up Marybeth to begin the long drive home. Marybeth then joined us for a beautiful day playing on the New Jersey beach before she had to head back home.

To finish off the year a few of us went to camp (scouts, young women, basketball), we all (except Jim) slept in a lot of days, took a weekend trip (Jim included) to Maryland to visit friends and the temple and went shopping to be ready for the school year. Now summer is over and we just had our labor day camping trip. School has begun and kids after school activities begin next week. Valerie is doing piano and volleyball, Nic football, volleyball and organ lessons, Kiley violin, girl scouts and field hockey, Arielle piano gymnastics and girl scouts and Bella girl scouts and gymnastics. Lilly and I go to the gym and hang out and take naps together. Jim goes to work and is busy some days, and not so other days. So now that life is back to a schedule, maybe I'll get back to this more regularly, just like my sister told me to.

Here's to the Tippits

For the second time in a row, we were able to spend Labor Day camping with some great friends. This year our dear friends the Tippits got us all in gear to make reservations and save our spots. At the last minute Todd got a new job and the family left us for the great state of Washington. We thought of them much this weekend as we enjoyed ourselves with cool air, good food, lovely nature and great company.

NYC

Mabry and I had a rare opportunity. We had a whole day without our children! It was so much fun to spend time with her and hang out. We had a fun day in New York. We saw the Statue of Liberty. We bought some bright sweatshirts because we were freezing. We walked through China town and helped a little old lady who fell down but was afraid of us (we think it was a cultural thing). We walked the Brooklyn Bridge. We walked through time square and the throngs of people. And we ate at some yummy curry inspired restaurant. We had a GREAT time.
I love you Mabs!

The Hunt is On

Happy Easter! I love to celebrate and have fun. So with Easter, an egg hunt is fun and exciting. However, it is important to Jim and I to teach our kids why we have Easter. Our family, and me in particular, am so grateful for my Savior. His infinite sacrifice has had it's healing affects in my life. I am so grateful for an older brother who loves me enough to give me the opportunity to repent and become more like him. Easter morning, what a beautiful day, what a beautiful reason to celebrate.Everyone is ready to head out the door.
Cute Kiley wearing her three day old clothes (it is spring break).

Valerie participating and having fun, even though she could easily poo-poo the whole event.

Sophie was our guest of honor. How we loved getting to know her better.

Bella says cha-ching to a chocolate bunny.

Nic is finding the impossible to find eggs hidden by Mabry. She was tough on these kids!

Lilly saying Ba, Ba to every egg. She also knew there was candy inside. Arielle was having fun. She just sometimes gives weird smiles.

Happy Easter Everyone!

Happy Birthday Valerie!

My oldest baby is 15 years old and over 6 feet tall! I couldn't be more blessed to have such a spectacular daughter. I love my Val!!She let Lilly help her open gifts.
This was her cake of choice. We had hard shell Caramel and Recess for toppings.

Her wish will come true!

Hershey Park

We had an AWESOME day at Hershy Park. We were all set to go when Valerie got a call from a friend to do some sewing. She preferred that over our mini vacation. So we let her stay and invited our good friend Bethany. It was a two hour drive and the line to get in was about 30 minutes long, but once we got in we had a lot of fun. The weather was perfect. The kids were perfect. The Hershey tour was delightful. And at the end of the night the park was practically empty and we rode ride after ride. It was a GREAT day.We had to ride the Ferris Wheel - a classic.
This was one of the two rides Lilly was able to go on.

Everyone from Bella to Mabry rode this ride. And everyone kept their stomachs afterward. Here you can see Bethany and Arielle on the first row (not sitting by each other for some reason) and then Mabry, Bella and Sophie in the second row. Nic and Kiley were on the other end of the boat.

Here is a before picture of us as we went to ride Fahrenheit.

Here is the beginning of Fahrenheit.

Here we are after the ride. A little dazed, but very satisfied.

Here is Sophie, Arielle, Bella and Mabry in line for a roller coaster.

This is them on the roller coaster. Sophie LOVED it. Bella thought it was super great, until she learned she went upside down, then she started to think about it. Arielle said she is done with roller coasters.

We did the classic Horse Carousel.

This was the Music Express.

It was Bella's favorite. She rode it 10 times.

This was Lilly when we got into the park at 11 am.

This is Lilly when we left the park at 9 pm. She was a trooper.

Philly

I pulled Bella and Arielle out of school Thursday and we all went to Center City to see the sites! Of course we tried the Philly Cheesesteaks.
We saw the Liberty Bell.

Took a carriage ride. While our guide gave us tons of historical information, the girls just waved to everyone like they were princesses and Mabry and I had fun watching the people on the street respond.

Skinny, cute Mabry with the girls in front of Independence Hall.

We finished off the day with a taste of Benjamin Franklin ice cream. Who cares about all those inventions, ice cream is definitely where it is at.