Emily's Reading

Emily learned to read this past year in school. It is one of her favorite things to do now and she is really good at it. She always amazes me when I hear her read because she just plows right through really big words and is able to read smoothly. One of her favorite things to do now is sit and read to her sister and brothers.

Smores

We borrowed a fire pit this summer and were able to roast marshmallows and make smores with the kids. They loved it like always. It also made a huge mess.

Fishing

While my dad was here we all were able to go fishing together. Joe and I went once when we were first married and hadn't gone since. We got the kids fishing poles that were their size and headed out to Wilson Pond in Nampa. My Dad caught a fish almost immediately and continued to catch several fish while we were there. Joe and Madison both caught their first fish. They were both very excited.

Geocaching

My dad was in town for 4 weeks. It was so much fun to have him here. One thing that he did with us a lot was geocaching. It is one of the kids favorite things to do. This last week we went out on Tuesday and walked the greenbelt in Nampa and found 13 geocaches in one morning/afternoon. Emily and my Dad found even more because I had to leave to get home in time for piano lessons and they kept going. Emily and Madison have found several geocaches on their own and are actually pretty good at it. Most of the time though we see it first and allow them to find it on their own. Here are some pictures from last Tuesday:

We found a Travel Bug named Draco that my Dad is going to put in a geocache in PA. If you have placed a Travel Bug you can track where it has been on a website to see how far it has gone. Draco was started in 2005 in Canada. He has seen almost all of the provinces in Canada and several of the United States, but he hadn't been to PA yet.

This is what Asher did for about 4 hours while we were geocaching. He woke up once to eat and I sat on the stroller and fed him and then he went right back to sleep and we continued on our way.

2 Months

Asher is two months. We went in for his 2 month appointment this last week. He is now 13 1/2 lbs and 25 in. He has grown 3 inches in 2 months! I can tell though because he feels really long to me when I am trying to hold him. He smiles all the time now. We love him so much. He is also cooing and chuckling a little bit. I wouldn't call it a full laugh yet though. He is a really good baby and even sleeps all the way through the night. I usually don't put him to bed until 11 pm and he will sleep until his dad leaves for work at 6 am. One day I put him to bed at 9 pm and he slept until 6:45 am. If I would just go to bed sooner I would be getting tons of sleep. He was a little fussy to begin with, but once I took milk out of my diet he became a really happy baby. His siblings still love him to death and are constantly asking to hold him. Emily can get a really good smile from him by singing to him and Maddie loves to talk to him to get a smile. JJ kind of mauls him, but he will still smile for him too. We are so thankful that he joined our family.

Winner!

A couple of weeks ago we went to a Public Works Expo at our local city hall. They had fun activities for the kids and hot dogs and drinks(we were to late for the hot dogs and drinks). There was also a coloring contest. The girls colored a page while they were waiting to get their face painted. We turned them in and didn't think anything of it. Last week we got a call that Maddie won! She was so excited! She got a certificate and a gift card to Yo-Yo's frozen yogurt. We will take her to use it soon.

Father's and Sons Outing

The first weekend of June Joe and JJ headed out for the fathers and sons outing. JJ was so excited for this. He couldn't stop talking all week about how he was going camping with Daddy, just him and Daddy. Joe said he did great while camping. He was worried about him having an accident and he didn't. He said that JJ followed him around a lot and had a lot of fun playing with others at the campout. While they were gone we did a girl's night. Aunt Rachel was here and we went to the mall to look for clothes for her. Then we stopped at The Body Shop and the girls had a mini makeover. Then we came home and ate dinner and watched a movie while eating popcorn. The girls stayed up until 11:30 and then went to sleep in the toy room in a tent we had made with blankets. It was a great weekend.

Easter

This year we had lots of fun for Easter. We went to our ward's Easter breakfast on Saturday. After the breakfast we headed to Nampa for an Easter egg hunt with friends. After naps and dinner we colored Easter eggs. The kids loved it and we really upset when the 2 1/2 dozen eggs were all colored.
Sunday, the kids found their Easter baskets and we attended church. That evening my grandpa and Aunt Debi came over for dinner. After dinner the kids did another Easter egg hunt in our backyard. Here is a picture of the three oldest in the backyard after finding their Easter eggs.
Here is a picture with my grandpa and Asher because I realized I didn't have any pictures showing Asher for Easter.

Learning to ride a bike

Emily was given a two-wheel bike not to long ago. Joe has been teaching her how to ride it. We don't have training wheels and she has never ridden her three-wheeler much so it is taking a little bit of time. She is loving it though and hopefully she will have it down soon.

1 Month

Asher is 1-month. It really does go by fast. He spends most of his day sleeping and is really a good baby. He is about 11 pounds (my grandpa weighed him on a scale with him) We really love having Asher in our home!