Family pictures

We FINALLY, after 6 years, have a family picture all together. We took an afternoon and went out to do it. I think they turned out OK, I think.

And the kids....

Thanksgiving was great. We had several people over who also don't have any family in town....they shared in the cooking so that was nice. Overall, we had a great time....stayed up late playing "spoons." It got pretty hairy after all the kids got knocked out of the game (not literally.)

We got most of what was on our list accomplished and it was all suprisingly NOT boring. We had a great time just being together as a family (for those of you who don't know us well, that is somewhat of a rarety around here.)

Back to the grindstone for another couple of weeks and then we are off on our tour of the South! I did break it to the kids, however, that if they wanted to get any "extra" skiing in this winter they were going to have to work on school through our trip. They agreed...we'll see. We are all very excited to see everyone...it's been such a long time.

Tony is HOME!

Well, we finally have our husband and Daddy home for an entire week! We are all very excited, however, he is at the Dr. right now to get a sinus infection dealt with. For those of you who are not aware...my husband cannot simply get a cold...it has to hit him like a ton of bricks...literally.
Hopefully he will recover to make room for fun.

Things to accomplish this week:
1. Get family and individual portraits made (some of you have been requesting this for years.)
2. Use free bowling passes we have had in our possession for the past year.
3. Catch up on routine Dr and dentist appts (very exciting!)
4. Christmas crafting and shopping (if you have requests, please make them known now.)
5. Finish Cam's "Wolf Trail" so he can become a "bear" by his 9th birthday.
6. Take a week off of school (except for our awesome science class, of course.)
7. Climb Mt. Naomi before it is too covered in snow......(in my dreams)

Man, we lead a pretty boring life......

Wrestling

The boys are almost done with wrestling so I thought I'd better get some pics up here before the whole thing is over. I will not include the ones we have where they are being pinned to the ground repeatedly and mercilessly :-). They are actually doing fairly well, I think, for this being their first year. They are having fun (which is the whole point, right?) and both say they want to do it next year.

Here are the boys gearing up for their match...man, are they ever pumped up! Eye of the tiger, man!

Caleb waiting to get matched up with another first grader who weighs 39 pounds...not an easy task, let me tell you.

Cameron is holding his own. It amazes me how these boys can completely bend both of his arms in opposite directions and he will smile the whole time. But if his big sister so much as pinches him he is limping for an hour...go figure.

Caleb is the one on top. He is a feisty little guy! He got his fingers completely bent back in practice yesterday, it hurt pretty bad, I could tell...he is one tough little dude.


Other news:

We winterized the camper today and are retiring it until next Spring.

We are all exhausted from raking leaves at a friend's house today...we still don't have any leaves of our own to rake :-(.

Final plans are being decided tonight (hopefully) for Christmas vacation, so some of you may be getting calls to clear up your schedules :-).

Car broke down again...not looking good for the home team.

That's all for now. Cam wants my next post to be about his Boy Scouts.

Moab

Ruth was from Moab. I see why it was such a sacrifice for her to leave. :-) We had a great time exploring the arches, canyons...so much more to see. We broke down on the way home so got to stay for 2 more days than planned! Fun, fun, fun.

Here are some pics as promised:

Holly carrying her monster backpack to take a shower in the campground "by myself!"

Here we are at the trailhead of Corona and Bowtie arches.

The little ones running on the trail...doesn't show the digger Holly took immediately afterward.

There were tons of little caves and crevices for the kids to explore. They were not quite so confident as they are in the picture when the time came to get down from this steep cave! There was weeping and gnashing of teeth.

That little blue speck is Camo.

By the Colorado River...next time we're rafting down it!

Can you see us? We are under there. It makes you feel very small...

Tony under Bowtie Arch.
You can't tell at all from pictures but this view from under Corona Arch was absolutely breathtaking! Oh, the kids are cute too.
We'll be good, Daddy, we promise!

Time to go =-(

All in all, we had a great time! Utah is such a land of beauty!

By the way...bummer about BO getting elected president....

Wrestling, Moab, and the Passover.....?

I signed the boys up for wrestling and they had their first match last Saturday...how cute! We forgot the camera so we don't have any pictures, we'll get some next week. They both won some and lost some. They were both so determined. Cameron was hilarious because he just smiled the entire time, there's nothing like being pinned to the ground by a kid with a smile on his face. They both loved it and can't wait to go back. This goes until mid December.

Cameron is officially a Wolf now and has the patches on his little Cub Scout shirt to prove it. :-)

We are all excited about our little family trip to Moab this weekend. I will definitely post pictures to encourage visitors....it is truly a magical place.

On Sunday night I did an interesting activity with my ladies bible class. We are to the part in Mark where Jesus is eating the Passover with His disciples. So we thought it would be a good idea to reenact the Passover. I did a TON of research and doing it really brought so much more meaning to the Lord's Supper for me. God set up the symbolism so perfectly THOUSANDS OF YEARS before Jesus would die and fulfill all of the OT. If anyone wants proof the Bible is true, just take a few years and REALLY study the document itself. It is amazing to me the longer I study it to see the unfolding of the beautiful plan of salvation that God set in motion before the creation of the world.

Tragedy :-)

There seems to be much concern over the fact that Aub was missing from the previous picture I posted. Well, I am sorry to say that she has had a relapse and permanently lost her memory. She no longer wants anything to do with our family and has chosen other arrangements for her living situation. Of course I am kidding....I think it's funny you all even noticed she was gone, much less were concerned. I love you all so much :-)
She was gone with her dad doing some work for a family in the church here. She is very much alive and well.

Make New Friends but Keep the Old

Well, Loree came from Montana to visit this weekend and we had a very busy but great time. All of our kids are growing up and it seems like every time I see hers they are bigger...glad mine aren't growing that fast. We, of course went to the Historical Farm with the Schadegg and Clayton kids.

They were all alot to handle but very well behaved so it really didn't feel like it was 13 kids. That is Silas on the left...He is so "13" now as you can tell!

Life has certainly changed for the both of us since we had our soap business together...

The paper route is going great...the two kids can pretty much do it on their own now. I go along for the exercise about 3 times a week.

We are planning one more camping trip the first weekend in Nov. Hopefully it won't be too cold...but we have heater now :-). We are going to go to southern Utah...I am always so enchanted with Utah when we go down there. We live in such a great place.

Aub

Aubrey is fine. "Back to normal" she says. It's funny...there's a few things she forgot all about...like the existence of the litter box (it's her job to clean it out.) We are grateful that she is OK and very grateful for all of the encouragement and get wells sent her way. She is feeling pretty special this week.

Cam's cub scout pack is going to the corn maze today....very exciting. He also has earned his first patch...even more exciting. It's funny how seriously he is taking all of this.

Loree and the girls are coming to visit this weekend, we are all so excited. Hopefully we'll have some pictures.

Love you all.

Drama!

Well, first of all, the ladies retreat went great! I think everyone not only had a great time but left encouraged. I was definitely challenged and I hope everyone else was as well. Thank you to everyone who pitched in and made it a great weekend.

Aubrey had an accident yesterday (this is the drama.) She fell on her bike in our neighborhood and hit her head pretty bad. She was confused and couldn't remember people....even the Schadeggs (she did remember Rylan, however :-) I've never really seen anyone like that before so we were a bit worried. We took her to the ER, they did a CAT scan and there is no permanent damage, she just bruised her brain and there was some swelling. She woke up this morning with a pretty bad headache but has all her memory back. The first thing she said was, "Am I going to have to miss my symphony today?" I was worried she would forget her paper route and I'd have to teach it to her all over again...AAAGH! She seems to be the one to always bonk her head. Caleb breaks limbs, and Cameron seems to avert danger for the most part for some reason.

That's our update for now. Busy, busy, busy!

More Pirtle adventures

We apparantly don't have the genius in our household that it takes to upload the video of Aub's fiddle contest...so we will have to bring in the reinforcements and hope for the best at a later date.

Lots has happened in the last couple of weeks. I didn't think we would have enough going on in our life to blog about but it is hard to keep up. Get ready for lots of pictures.....

Caleb lost a tooth. Cameron is bound and determined to find out who the tooth fairy is. Deep down he knows it's dad, but is just dieing to prove it...so funny.

We've taken a couple of fun little hikes before the cold weather sets in. The kids can do about 6 miles pretty comfortably now (not Holly, of course...she still hitches a ride part of the way.)

Tony Grove

The Crimson Trail

Providence Canyon

Another trip to the American West Heritage Center for the corn maze...the kids LOVE it!

Last summer we took a tour of the Air Force Academy in CO Springs...Cam just can't wait to be a cadet there. I just had to show these pics because they are so....CAMERON! He loved everything about it...he loved that they all wore the same clothes, walked in a straight line, yelled as they marched, etc...crazy kid.

We finally got him enrolled in Cub Scouts this last week and it is all we have heard about. He has read through the entire book about 3 times already, he has his first little "Bobcat trail" thing already memorized, and is already thinking about what his Eagle Scout project should be! He's gotta be an Eagle Scout because only Eagle Scouts have walked on the moon, you know. The boy is obsessed! I'm glad he has a passion for something...it sure keeps him motivated. I'll put up a picture of him in his little Cub Scout outfit, it's pretty cute!

Fiddle Contest

Aub played today and did great! She really played the best I have ever heard her...she really does well under pressure. Of course her father and I thought she got completely ripped off by not winning the gold....but that's a proud parent's prerogative. I am still trying to figure out how to download the video Tony took....might take awhile. For now, here is a picture of our second child whose activities of the day we are incredibly proud of as well......

Typical Camo...

We did it!

Consider the Wellsvilles conquered! Jill, Erin and I did it! We decided to go clear across the entire mountain range. It took about 9 hours of serious hiking...I was hurting on Sunday. It was absolutely amazing! For about 2 miles once you hit the top, you just hike along the peak of the mountain range looking over the valleys on both sides of it. It was by far one of the coolest hikes I have been on...and right in our backyard too! Next is Naomi and Logan peaks...then to the 14ers in Colorado with Cam. He wants to do as many as he can before he graduates ( in about 10 years.)

Speaking of Cam, he is becoming quite the little runner lately. He asks every day if he can run on the track and today I clocked him around a 7 minute mile...not bad for an 8 year old!

He and Aub are doing great on their paper route...real troopers. I go with them in the morning sometimes...otherwise, I just stay at home and worry about them.

Aub has her annual fiddle contest tomorrow and one of her songs she will be playing is "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" by the Charlie Daniels Band. She is pretty nervous, but I know she will do great.

Caleb is a wiz at reading, but struggles with math a bit...nothing serious. That boy is keeping me on my toes, that's for sure. Something I am learning about raising boys...they must be busy constantly!

Holly Grace is still as unable to sit still as ever. She cracked us all up the other day when Aub found about 10 dominoes in her purse...put there by Holly. She is obsessed with dominoes, cars, and babies...what a mix!

So much for the deep insightful political views of all my friends out there...I guess I'll just stick to the shallow stuff from now on. :-)

Finally...

I am finally going to embark upon conquering the Wellsville mountain range on Saturday! For those of you who are not from around here...it is only the steepest mountain range in all of North America! I am SO excited. I've been wanting to do this since we moved here! I look at those mountains outside my window every day and think about getting to the top. I'll let everyone know if I survive. Steb...if you read this, you'd better comment :-). The highest peak toward the left of the picture is where I will be on Sat. Minus the snow, of course. This view is from our backyard last winter, by the way.

Getting in shape is my new goal. I have started a "piyo" (pilate and yoga) class every Tuesday night. OUCH! But I feel much stronger and I'm starting to not be sore every time. Also, one of the kids and I are riding our bike from the church building on Sunday afternoon all the way home. For those of you who are not familiar with our town...we live on a great big mountain and the only way to get to our house is up monstrous hills. It has been a great cardio workout and good time with the kids. With all of this, I don't really see any progress in the whole firming up thing...comes with age I guess.

Paper route is going much better. I think the kids will be able to handle it on their own by the end of this week and I can go back to sleeping in. Although, getting up at 5:30 has been quite productive....I may just keep it up.

So, when you blog, you're supposed to exchange ideas....I want to get everyone's thoughts on McCain's pick for VP, Sarah Palin. For once, I will refrain from expressing my opinion. You can even remain anonymous if you so desire.

Kudos

Yes, I finally got some pics on my blog :-). The first one is Tony preaching a lesson on Judges and the second one is Holly Grace listening intently. I am going to try to learn how to do the picture thing on my own soon.

Kudos to all the paper boys of the world! Don't ever let anyone tell you your job is easy! This paper route is harder than it seems. Aub is determined to stick with it, however. She is going to need her brother's help and isn't too thrilled about that. All those papers are just too much for her little body to carry on her own...I am proud of her determination!

Rocky and Apollo have become a bit of a nuisance with their constant running around the house and playing together. They are like a couple of kids that I have to get onto. I catch myself saying, "Don't run in the house" to my dog and cat. I guess the mother in me will never die.

Aubrey had a sewing day with Aunt Jill and they made a dress for Holly Grace. It looks pretty good. I have no idea where she got her passion for such domestic things...not from her mother as you all know.

I will not be working this tax season. The scheduling didn't work out and I am a bit relieved to be honest. It really makes for 4 months of constant busyness and a lack of being together as a family. Our summer has been crazy and I am looking forward to a nice quiet winter at home...ha ha. Since when is anything nice and quiet around here?

Happy Labor Day

Well, we went on our annual Labor Day campout this year with other congregations in Utah. When it poured rain from Sunday evening until we left on Monday morning, I was very grateful for our camper. It would have been cold and miserable in a tent. Other than the rain the weather was perfect and we had a great time. It is encouraging to get out and see some of the other Christians in the state. There are only nineteen or so congregations in Utah and there were probably 10 represented this weekend. When Christians are as few and far between as they are here, we are grateful for times like these to catch up and see how the work is going in other places in the state.

We officially do not have any TV as of Sunday! We have to catch up (once again) with the current century and go digital (I guess). All these years I have refused to pay for TV because....well...I always thought that's what we all endured commercials every ten minutes for. It will be interesting to see how much we miss the little we watch. I am sad to be missing the Republican Convention...or maybe it's just as well. We are going to try it out for awhile and see how it goes. We would like to get high speed internet, though. :-)

Aubrey is starting a paper route tomorrow....5:30 AM. Of course, being the wonderful mother that I am, I will be escorting her in the freezing cold wee hours of the morning. Why a child would be so ambitious as to voluntarily endure such things is beyond me. However, I am proud and supportive. She will, after all, be using some of it to pay for her music lessons for which we are currently footing the bill. I am hoping she has the gumption to stick with it.

We are getting full swing back into our lives tomorrow. We are going whole hog on school, my weekly ladies Bible study will be starting, music lessons, Cam will be starting cub scouts, running here and there...etc. I'm kind of dreading it, but summer can't last forever.

My garden this year is the best it has ever been. We had a late start with an unusually cold spring, but everything is beautiful now...just in time to start freezing. Aub and I have canned about 10 quarts of tomatoes and 12 cans of green enchilada sauce. I think all that work for the last 3 years prepping that soil and digging up thousands of rocks is finally paying off. My okra even decided to produce this year!

Well it's getting late and I have to get up early.

Ta, ta for now.

Round 2

OK, Susan has just helped me figure out how to do this again.

Kendra. I'm updating my blog now. I would like a comment from you as I know you check this several times daily :-)

Lots going on right now. We had our 50th anniversary for the congregation here in Logan. It was encouraging to see the foresight and the vision that a group of college kids had in the 1950's to start a work of the Lord's church here in Logan. We are so thankful that we can be here and get right to ministering to the needs of the community here and not have to worry about the physical things such as purchasing a building. It is encouraging to see how the Lord has blessed the work here despite the many struggles over the years.

My birthday has passed and I am one year older. Yeah, it's rough being 25. My wonderful husband got me a cat for my birthday (kind of.) OK, I went behind his back and actually got it myself and manipulated the situation horribly. Long story short...he is an orange tabby about 5 months old. His name is Apollo...so now we have Rocky and Apollo...get it? Rock likes him OK, it's been about a week and they actually played with each other for the first time last night...VERY CUTE! Rocky just seems to be confused by him. He's not sure why things like strings and wadded up balls of paper are so entertaining.

We are going on our annual Labor Day camping trip...and we don't have to set up a tent this year. There will be 4 families from our congregation going so that is exciting.

I would like whoever reads this to please pray for two women in my life. First, Ann...we have been studying for about a year. She lost her aunt and her uncle all in one day last week and her whole family is struggling. Pray that this will soften her heart. Also, please pray for Aridani, she has said she is interested in studying this week so we will start tomorrow. Pray that the ground will be fertile and she will be receptive to God's word.

Kids are all fine...dreading starting school in full swing after Labor Day. A couple we worship with has volunteered to teach them science (not one of my strong points.) They have had a blast. Last week they experimented with dry ice which everyone found fascinating...even me. As a side note...does everyone know that dry ice is actually frozen carbon dioxide?

Cameron got to talk to a real astronaut last week as well. He asked him how astronauts worship on Sunday up in space...he's been worried about that for some time. Cam was relieved that it would be easily possible. Aub also asked him a great question. She asked him if going up in space has an affect on most astronaut's belief in God. He said that he knows very few astronauts that have gone up there that still believe that all of that intricate design happened by chance. Many come back and change their views completely after having experienced space. It was a good experience for all of us. These are rocket scientists, mind you.

Remember, Kendra, I want to hear from you. ;-)

Hello

OK, so Susan is trying desperately to bring me into the 21st century...not and easy task. It has only taken me an hour to figure out how to put this post on here. If I knew how to do pics that would be great. Maybe I'll get on that...only a few extra hours in my day.

I guess I'm supposed to update people on our life, so here it goes...
The highlight of our summer has been getting our camper. We have pledged that we are going to make time to use it. We took it out once with some friends and we all had a great time.

We are fixin' to really start school back up in the next month or so, probably after Labor Day. We have been working on and off throughout the summer. It just sort of becomes a way of life after awhile...you start to see there is so much to learn no matter what you are doing.

Aub has been out of music lessons for a whole month and it is driving her crazy. She has gone ahead and learned 3 of the songs in her book that her teacher hasn't started her on yet. She got to jam with Grandpa on the fourth of July with her fiddle and that was quite a treat for her.

Cam is still obsessed as ever with someday walking on the moon. He is currently fascinated with Leonardo Da Vinci and his first attempt at flight. He built some sort of flying machine today after I talked him out of building the one that would require getting on top of the roof to try it out. He is always keeping me on my toes.

Caleb is finally getting the whole reading thing. It's neat to see as I teach my children that everything eventually "clicks" you just have to have patience. He is also letting Aub teach him some violin and piano...It is all so very cute.

Holly Grace is wanting to start school this year with her older sister. Aub is pretty excited about the prospect of being the one to teach her. We'll see how long that lasts. She is full of life and personality, always making those around her smile...especially me. We went on a hike the other day around a beautiful mountain lake and she says to me "Mom, why do we always like to walk outside in all of this dirt?" I told her, "To enjoy all of the beauty God made for us." She said,
"Can we enjoy all the stuff he made inside instead?"

This is becoming very time consuming and I still need to get in the shower (it is 1:44 in the afternoon.) The continual plight of a homeschool mom.