Robyn and Lydia...Friends for Life!

Lydia thinks the world of her cousin Robyn. She has this picture of Robyn hanging in her room and she tells all of her friends about her friend and cousin who is "old". At all the family gatherings Lydia finds Robyn and just stays with her the whole night. If Robyn ever feels like she isn't loved all she has to do is think about Lydia. Tonight Robyn came up with her fiance, Christian, and took Lydia out on a "date". They went to dinner at Wendy's (Lydia's choice), mini golfing and then shopping for a birthday gift. Lydia was in HEAVEN...She couldn't stop talking about it when she got home. Thank you Robyn for letting her stick to you like glue and yet never seem bothered by her...you are a great friend to her...you are awesome.

Our trip to PHILMONT!!!!

We just took one of the the greatest family trip ever! It was down at the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. They have LDS week down there where the General Young Men's Presidency and Primary Presidency come down and train the stake leaders. While Russ was in training the kids went to "class" with their age groups and were able to do a lot of fun things like hike, ride ponies, crafts, play games and more. So while the kids were off being busy I was able to pick and choose what I wanted to do. They had special "women's meetings", hikes, tours and the COPE course available to choose from...or if I wanted I could just sit back at the tent and relax. They made all the meals so I didn't have to cook or clean up once while I was down there...it was a little piece of heaven. The food was actually pretty good...the kids especially loved the salad bar and the pick of the drinks! We were down there from Saturday until Friday...when it was time to come home the kids were so sad. Kyler had so much fun living in the outdoors...he didn't want it to end! Here are some pictures of our trip, but I sure wish that I could let you feel the "Spirit of Philmont" it was incredible!!!! The kids keep asking when we can go again.
This was our tent. We had a "Girl's Tent" and a "Boy's Tent"...it was pretty nice...wooden floors and electricity.



This was "Western Night" where we were suppose to dress up like cowboys...they had a big barbeque on the main grass and then they played some games, and had a western dance...gotta love that watermelon.

Zeth's OVERNIGHTER up in the Mountains

Zeth was able to go on an overnighter with he group. They took him up Tuesday night to a camp site and then they hiked to "Lover's Leap" on Wednesday. He had a great time.

The PRIMARY Costume Parade

On Wednesday afternoon they had a primary costume parade. They had brought ALOT of things for the kids to go and make a costume, so each of the kids went to make a costume.
I helped Lydia with her Flower. We just had a paper bag and cut a whole and then added the pedals...she was excited about how it turned out. Notice the green crepe paper wrapped around her body...her idea about the stem of the flower.
Russ came over to help with Kyler's costume...they decided to make a Robot out of tin foil. Once again, thanks to the brown paper sack with the hole cut out for his face and then covered in tin foil...they made "Kyler the Robot"
Abby decided to make a funny hat so she went to work with all of the fun things that they had and added as much as she could to the hat to make it tall and fun. After the costumes were all made the kids lined up and paraded around the court yard so that everyone could see the fun ideas.

Crafts...Crafts...and More Crafts!

The kids had a great time doing crafts at the art center. They were able to paint ceramics, make leather bracelets and make dream catchers.
They had time in their "classes" to go and make a project but then during family time they were able to go back and make more.
You can see by the pictures they they were having a blast. Lydia is painting on an apron here...she was using fabric paint and fun stamps. Her apron turned out really cute.
We had a table set up back at the tent where they did some craft projects there that I had brought. This was during some "time off" that we were able to spend together back at the tent.

Our Family Flag

On Monday night there was a "family parade" where you walked up and introduced your family and showed your family flag...so we made this flag before we went down. It isn't too often that you have a family picture in your Sunday clothes while you are camping, but on Sunday we went to Chruch while we were there. They had called positions before we even got down there so everything was ready to go...the Relief Society President taught the lesson along with a Gospel Doctrine Teacher in Sunday School. The kids went to primay which they had fully staffed. It was pretty neat. Sunday night there was an adult fireside and then a youth fireside which Zeth got to go to.

Happy Birthday LYDIA

Lydia turned 6 years old this year...we were down at Philmont on her birthday so we celebrated it with the family the Sunday after we got home. She got the American Girl doll that she wanted...she named her Emme. Lydia thinks her birthday is pretty special because it is so close to Grandma Martin's...they usually celebrate it together. We love you Lydia and Grandma...Happy Birthday!!! PS: Grandma took Lydia to get her ears pierced on Monday...they look so cute, and she was so brave thanks to Aunt Amy who had some pretty special "numbing" medicine that we put on her ears...she didn't feel a thing!

Abby's Piano Recital

It was Abby's Piano Recital! She did a great job...all the hard work paid off. She memorized both of her pieces. Abby is really loving piano and practices hard...probably the biggest challenge that she has is the fact that her MOM is her teacher!!! It is never fun to have to practice in front of your teacher. I try really hard to just let her practice and not step in too much. One day I told her that if she treats me like a teacher I will treat her like a student and when she treats me like a mom I treat her like a daughter...so really we do pretty good together. This was my 12th recital. I have 13 students, which is plenty because I only want to teach 2 days a week. The recital is my pay day and I was pretty excited about this one...it is sure fun for me to see my students progress.

We are BACK!

Well we are back from our FUN trip to Philmont Scout Ranch. It is about 13 hours away so the kids are glad that the drive is over, but they sure didn't want to leave the camp. We had a GREAT time...I have about 150 pictures so I will be posting them very soon! Keep watching.