Moriah's First Day of the 4th Grade!

School started today. Kayley, Jacob and I walked Moriah around the corner to school. We got to see Jackee and some of the kids. (I think Ashlee and Moriah are right next door to each other.) It is FUN being at the same school with our cousins this year.

These are some pictures I took from our deck. I love having the school right behind our house. Moriah was easy for me to spot with her all blue outfit. The zoom on our camera was helpful to, helping me to confirm that it really was her.

After we got home, Kayley wanted to play with her cousin Jordan.

They are excited for their first SOCCER GAME this Thursday!

Our 10th Anniversary

So a lot of our friends have been posting about their anniversaries so I thought I would too. We celebrated 10 years. WOW! It seems like we were married just yesterday and yet it seems like we have been together, well forever. We went out to dinner the day after (Mark was covering for the Residency on the 15th). Dinner was nice, poor Mark was exhausted from working SOOOO much! It was great to just be us, NO KIDS. Anyway on Sunday while I was at my Primary meeting and Mark was taking a nap, Moriah and Kayley made a great big banner for us. They put together a program, where we looked through out wedding album, listened to Kayley sing a song and then watched our wedding video. We have such cute kids!!! It was fun to remember the day a little more with Moriah and Kayley. Thank you girls!

Camping Fun

So my siblings will disagree with the title of this one...
They may have went camping but Tammy and I only went up for the afternoon/evening.
What can I say...I have to work!
I was oncall and only got about 3 hrs of sleep the night before...
apparently, with little Emilee not being very sleepy, those that went caming also only got about 3 hours of sleep!

Lots of fishing...41 total fish caught that day between us all. You gotta love catch and release!

Campfire with hotdogs and smores!
And just lots of fun hanging out!

We did this last year too. It is becoming a sort of family tradition. Hopefully I can plan it better next year and get to camp (although Tammy really enjoyed the whole "just go up for the day" thing!).

Announcing the Twins...

No, we are not having twins and NO Tammy is NOT pregnant!

Sorry to miss lead you all.

Instead, Mark was succored into adopting some puppies. The official plan was to get a dog in about 3 more years once we are well established where ever we end up living and once Moriah is really old enough to take care of a dog. However, somehow we ended up with TWO dogs THREE years early!

So here they are. Mark likes to call them the twins, even though they are really 2 out of 11 (what is that elevenuplets or maybe oncuplets???). Their mom is a golden retriever and dad is a border collie. They were born July 1st and so we got them at 6wks old.

Picking out the puppies...

Jake and Patches:

Gloria and Patches having fun under the slide!

And here is Moriah and Kayley introducing their puppies:

It's Soccer Time

Moriah had her first soccer practice for this season.

She is on the same team as her cousin Ashlee, so that makes soccer EXTRA FUN!

Kayley will start soon (they are still looking for a coach).

Jacob and His Popsicle

When was the last time YOU simply enjoyed a popsicle like this:

Isn't he too cute? We think so!!!

Without Warning...

I am sitting in church with Kayley on my lap massaging her hand (you just rub the hand/fingers and wiggle the joints...it actually feels quite relaxing). Then they started a baby blessing, so I let go of her hand, put my arms around her to fold them, and closed my eyes. All of a sudden my hair is being pulled, I hear "Dad...dad" and then without warning...

SMACK!!!

Kayley slaps me right on the forehead!

After telling her to fold her arms I start thinking what I am going to tell her after the blessing to quitely reprimand her about not being reverent during the blessing when it occurs to me: she probably had no idea it had started. She too was "without warning".
Sure enough I asked her,
"Did you know they were blessing a baby?"
She replied,
"I thought you fell asleep!"
Thankfully, I was able to warn her about the second baby blessing so I could pay attention without having to worry about being smacked in the face again!
-Mark