Camping... Arkoudas Style!

So, It's not that easy to go camping with a baby, but we still have always done it, but this year, with the kids getting bigger and the quantity of them multiplying, we out grew our tent. We now no longer fit in it! It was a sad realization, but the kids still wanted to camp out. They actually wanted to sleep on the trampoline, but the mosquitos are awful! It is not do to a slacking husband(since that is his job to anialate them) He has worked so much it's pathetic. The flooding rivers just created pockets of nice mosquito breeding grounds that can't all possibly be treated by one crew. So they set up the tent. Sam and Noah started all by themselves. I was actually quite impressed at how far they got before they asked for help.

They got it all set up and everyone wanted to sleep out there. Even Mara!

I tucked them all into bed, and told them some ghost stories, and sang some songs, and then went inside with Emma. Mara was determined not to come inside with me. But a few minutes after I got inside...I heard a pounding on the sliding door and a little voice saying "Let me inside... I want inside..." It was quite a sweet little voice, and I couldn't resist letting her in.

Now tell me you wouldn't let that little face inside your house!

Meredith's big day!

Garrett and Meredith Dutcher's Big day is today!

June 17, 2008

Congratulations Meredith and Garrett! We are so happy for you. We wish that we could be there for your big day and wish you lots of luck. Have fun in Nauvoo, and know that we will be there in spirit, even though we can't be there in person.

Father's Day 2008

We are so grateful to have such a wonderful dad! There is no one who is as great as you Ryan! The kids just wanted to say how great you are, and that you are so fun to tease and wrestle with. Thanks for being such a wonderful father! You always make each of the kids feel like they are important, and your influnce with them amazes me. They are always trying to be like you, and they always want to do what you are doing. I am so grateful to you for your calming influence and for enduring the madness that we have created!
You are the best dad ever! We love you long time!!

Visitors Are Always Nice!

Ryan' parents, John and LaVone came up to go to Red Lodge, MT and "stopped by" to see us.(even though it's a 5 hour drive out of their way.) We had such a great weekend ! We went to the farmers market, and the boys bought marshmellow shooter guns. They had so much fun with them. We watched Indiana Jones, and...
went to Ryan Dam. We actually got to get on the island with our visitors this time instead of just eating on the trail leading to the island like we did when the Bouck's came. The falls were so beautiful it was unreal how much water was coming over the top. We were so glad that we got to see it. It is always so fun there. After we got home we went to work mending fences, pulling weeds,building a strawberry box, and shoveling dirt to fill the strawberry box. Thank you John and LaVone for coming up and helping us to weed and mow the lawn. We seem to be in the habit of putting people to work when they come for visits. I promise, all you who read this, you can come up and visit without being put to work.

One Year Ago Today.....

We said good-bye to...

Sam's best friend...

Noah's best friends...

Caleb's best friends...

A neighborhood full of kids...

Max's best friends...

The best friends I could ever ask for...

Baby girl cousins, wonderful aunts, uncles, grandmas and grandpas lots of best friend cousins...

The best family in the world...

Our dream house... and the best neighborhood mom's in existance!...

Great friends and family who were such an example to us of how true service is performed. THANK YOU! We will always consider you the bestest of friends, and will always be truly grateful that our paths crossed yours in this life! We love you all and miss you all terribly.

wHAt DoEs JuNE 11th LoOk LikE?

This might be what you are thinking of! Birds chirping and sitting on their nest to hatch their young. Sunshine, and kids laughing outside because school is finally out! Sprinklers going, watergun fights... Yeah, not here. Snow is what we woke up to. The house only 60 degrees because we turned off the heater long ago. Power out, trucks off the road because of the 7 inches of slushy snow that fell. (Ryan took the picture after the snow had mostly melted) Tree branches broken, and flooding everywhere. Us curled up next to the fireplace freezing our bahooky off.

I sure hope that one day the sun will shine again. I hope, I hope. I do not want to run our fireplace all summer long.

OUCH!!!

I was planting raspberry starts, when Mara decided to join me. The problem came when she tripped over the railroad tie and bit through her lip. Not fun...not fun at all! I am afraid that she has entered that accident prone age that all my kids have gone through. Let's just hope she's not as bad as Noah was!

Free Fish Day at Wadsworth Pond

What would you do to get a free fishing pole? You can see that Emma didn't appreciate what we did do! It was free fish day at Wadsworth Pond today. They were giving away free fishing poles to all the kids and teaching them how to fish. It seemed like a sunny day, so we thought we'd give it a whirl. We knew there would be a lot of people, so we got there early, and weren't too nervous about the amount of people that we saw, so we started off to our stations to learn to fish...

They taught the kids how to tie their hooks onto the fishing line, and how to cast the pole. No one could get their free fishing poles until they stood in line to do all the stations. There were four stations and four dots that you had to get on your paper indicating that you had completed all the stations. Pretty simple... Until we got to the last station, and the line was so long. It was so windy, not cold, just windy, and I was trying to keep Emma out of the wind. The kids were whiny, and so to pass the time we played the "I spy game" much to the annoyment of others waiting in line.

The pond was beautiful and we were glad that we found it, we will definately go fishing there when there aren't so many people.

Do you see the line? Yeah...people in Utah stand in line to ride rides at Lagoon. People in Montana stand in line, in the wind, with their six children, waiting to get a free fishing pole. Madness, but in a good way.

I finally gave up and took the girls to the car to wait. They were much happier, and Ryan stayed with the boys to get their fishing poles. They did go and cast them into the lake a few times, but the wind was so strong that they couldn't cast them past the moss, and eventually gave up and came back to the shelter of the car. All in all I am glad we went, they were really nice fishing poles, but it would have been nicer if we could have actually caught something.

Emma was much happier in the car... after all, she didn't get a fishing pole.

~School's Out, Look How Much We Changed In A Year~

Well, here we are on the last day of school! The boys are so excited for summer to begin. Now schools out, so bring on the warm weather. We are sick of jackets. I took this picture on the very last day of school, and thought it would be fun to see how much they have changed in one school year.







This is all the boys outside of West Elementary School and the first day of school Sept 2007. Below is a picture of the "school boys" out in front of our house just before going to school. They were so nervous to start at a brand new school, and though there was some adjusting, they all did very well!

Kindergarten Graduation!!

Way to go Caleb!!

Caleb's Kindergarten Graduation was today. I can't believe it! I have three kids graduated from kindergarten now. He was so stinkin' cute. I told him he had to wear a shirt and tie, and he insisted that he wear shorts and flip-flops with it. He did look quite studly though. He loves his principal

"Bobby" the kids all call him. He is the best principal ever, he knows all my kids names, and that's hard to remember when they look so much alike.

Caleb loved his teacher Mrs.Moats as well. He wrote her a letter that said "Good Buy" She was a "good buy" we were so thankful forher, she really helped Caleb's transition so She just loves the kids and you can totally tell. She fell a few week ago in the hall at school and tore her muscle that holds the foot to the bone, so she spent the last weeks of school in a wheel-chair. We are so proud of you Caleb. Good work this year. We think it is awesome what a good student you are and the good example that you are to the others in your class.

Caleb got the Overall Best Student award! His teacher just told us he is reading on a 2nd grade level, and is totally ready for 1st grade! Way to go Caleb!

On wednesday I helped deliver a baby at the birth center, and got home at about 8:00 pm. Then I spent last night helping to deliver a baby. I went at 10:00p.m. and got home at 3:30a.m. Emma woke up at 4:00a.m. and I finally got to sleep at about 4:30 a.m. I learned so much though, I am loving it. I have been very lucky, I haven't had to take the kids to the babysitter for any of the 5 deliveries, and Ryan hasn't had to miss work, it has all worked out so smoothly. I know it won't always be easy, but I will enjoy it when it happens. 5 down, 75 to go :)I got the kids up at 7:00a.m, but even though we were ready, we missed the bus. The first time ever. So I drove the kids to school. Then went back for Caleb's graduation. We are going to go the park today when the older boys are out. No one is more excited that school is out than me!