Well, here's what we do for fun on weekends. I do dumb things and everyone laughs. Don't be too judgemental of my form, I am old you know. The somersault was the best. I didn't think she would stay on my back. Ryan says my laugh is funnier than the somersault itself. If you listen carefully, you will hear Nathan crying in the background. I don't know if it was my bad gymnast skills or my wicked witch of the west laugh-but I scared him. We also played hide and seek tonight. It was lots of fun until I heard Brendon and Maddie looking for me. Brendon wanted to look in the cupboard under the bathroom sink. Maddie told him I wouldn't fit in there because I have a big bum. I guess it was still lots of fun-I just don't feel as excited about my weight loss as I did before. I guess I will keep on eating right and imagining I am exercising. Anyway, I love my kids and always love playing with them and having fun with them.

I also got my quote of the day from Annika today. She said:
"Mom, every time I close my mouth-it makes me stop talking." I told her that was really cool and she got mad and said- "NO IT'S NOT!"

Look How Fast Danna Can Run!

Anni drew me this picture earlier this week. She is so funny lately. She told me that it was me running really fast so my hair was going straight back. I love little kid drawings.

Brendon's highlight of the 4th of July holiday was probably mutton bustin' at the Tooele Rodeo. When he got on the sheep and was waiting in the chute he told me-"This is going to be so freaky." His sheep was not a real fast mover, it sorta just walked this way and that, maybe ran for a few seconds, then turned sharp and dumped him off. He won a certificate and a box of candy. He was in Heaven. He thought it was so much fun. Hopefully all of our family members that drove clear from Salt Lake to see him ride for 5 seconds had fun too. We were so glad they came out. Thanks guys! We had to buy him some church shoes a few weeks later, and he chose cowboy boots so he could wear them mutton bustin.

Well, for the 4th of July, we had lots of fireworks to light, but aren't the snakes the coolest? The kids love doing these. I also had to put the picture of myself that the kids took. Maddie spent the night doing my hair. She wants to be a cake maker and a hair cutter when she grows up. Grandma spent the whole night holding Nathan. He wasn't quite sure what to think about the fireworks. He was sorta scared to tell you the truth. I also had to put my German pancake on here. I doubled the recipe, because my kids eat a lot. So, it raised up above the pan a little higher than it ususally would. The kids thought it was amazing. Well, the kids under 10 did anyway.

I just love these pictures of Nathan and Brendon. It is one of my favorite things when they fall asleep in the highchair. It's not quite so much my favorite when they put food all over themselves, but it's still cute, because they only do it when they are little. (for the most part Ryan still looks like that when he eats sometimes) I also love it when he gets out the broom to sweep the floor. He does it many times every day. He pushes it and drags it all over the kitchen. We have to watch out, he isn't very good at not hitting us. I also love these two sleeping brothers. They are such good buddies, even though they are 5 years apart. Brendon makes Nathan laugh constantly. What would life be without our kids?

We went to Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur museum on their 2.00 Tuesday. It was super crowded, but really fun for the kids. Brendon got to bring his buddy Dreyton. They all had a lot of fun looking at the dinosaurs, but their favorite part was the big water, sand, plastic dino toys room. They would have spent all day in there. I think there was 200 kids in there, and I was afraid I would lose one of them, so I only let them stay 30 minutes or so. Maybe not even that long, but it seemed like it. They also had fun digging for dinosaur bones. Lindsey had fun reading her book. She is so old. We love her lots though.

On August 22nd, we went to the ward campout up Settlement Canyon. It was really fun and really dirty. I think they transplanted soot up into that canyon so you would get really dirty and feel like you were truly camping. The kids had a blast hiking up and down the mountain, running around, wading in the stream, eating dirt and boogers mixed, eating smores, oh-and we can't forget the puking. Ryan and I and some neighbors were out by the fire and I heard a sort of choking noise coming from the tent, and then Annika was crying really hard. Well-sure enough, she barfed all over her sleeping bag and cushion. Needless to say, I got to sleep in my own bed-besides the times I was helping Anni empty her barf bowl. It was a lot of fun though. In the picture of Anni, she was crying because she didn't get to wash her hands yet.

On Saturday, September 6th, Madison got baptized. It was so much fun to see how excited she was. She has been looking forward to this day for a really long time. There was an old guy there that is in charge of the font, etc. He kept telling Ryan to move this way and that and after he baptized Maddie, the Baptism Nazi(old guy) told him that her hair floated up and he had to do it again. No problem. It's funny though, we didn't see the hair float up, but her toe stuck up out of the water. We told her she was lucky because she got to be baptized twice. She is a sweet girl and we're glad we have her in our family. She did get a beautiful baptism dress, and of course, I missed pictures with it. All I have is the family pictures.

Our Farm Continues to Grow

Well, on Saturday we added 4 more babies to our list of animals. A wild mama cat had kittens a while ago anlld they were in our window well for a bit. She moved them and we didn't see them for a few days-even with the kids searching. On Saturday we were working on the chicken coop, and Maddie said-"I hear seagulls!" I listened for a second and tried to find seagulls flying around. It was then that I realized the cries were not seagulls, but a baby kitten. We found them in an old tire in the field right behind our yard. One of them was meowing pretty good, but the other three were so weak they couldn't move or meow. We brought them in and gave them some kitten formula. They are doing great now. The kids love them so much. We have all had fun feeding them from a little bottle and playing with them. They have even given Lindsey some pretty good anxiety dreams. Last night she woke me up around 2:00 am. "Mom, come here a minute, I need your help." What's wrong, I say. "There was a kitty crying, so I put it in my blanket and it crawled into the hole and now it's inside my blanket. We are going to have to cut it out. It used to be meowing, but I can't hear it anymore." So I went and got my scissors and followed her down the stairs. She had 3 blankets from her bed, with one spread out on the floor. She was patting all over, looking for the kitten, all this time, she has been in tears. I asked her where it was-she told me, "it's right here, where this lump is- Well I saw the lump, and it didn't look too alive, I was worried. When I touched it-it didn't feel like a body, so I lifted the blanket. To our relief, it was a pair of Brendon's underwear. I started to wonder if Lindsey was even awake at this point. We looked for the kitten some more, but couldn't find it. I asked her-are you sure you weren't dreaming? Go look in the kennel and see if they are all there. She looked, but said she couldn't tell because they were all too cute piled together SOUND ASLEEP. I checked and they were all there. Safe and Sound. Lindsey was dreaming and sleepwalking. It was really funny. (To me) It is fun to have her experience a little bit of how stressful and tiring it is to be a parent and be responsible for something so helpless.

So-Brynn and Robyn, are you happy now? I hope so.

Anni's 4th B-day

It was Annika's birthday while we were in Yellowstone. It was a fun birthday. We bought cake and ice-cream from the West Yellowstone Market and celebrated. She wanted strawberry cake and strawberry ice cream. The store only had German chocolate cake-which was super delicious, but Ryan did get strawberries and cream ice cream. It was mostly white, so Anni thought it wasn't strawberry enough. We had strawberry cake and double strawberry ice cream when we got home. Grandma and Grandpa Herzog came out to have dinner and give Annika her presents when we got home. She loves to dress up in her new outfits!

June-The Month of Family Reunions

We have had fun attending the family reunions this month. We went up to Wolf Creek in Eden with Grandma Sylvia and Grandpa Hunter. It was so much fun. I don't have any pictures of this one. Nobody wanted to come home. The kids went swimming (even though it was only 50 degrees) Thank goodness for the hot tub next to the pool! They had so much fun. We also went to the clubhouse and played racquetball all together. It was pretty crazy in that court with 6 people and 3 balls and 4 racquets. I hit Brendon right in the middle of the forehead with the ball. It is always fun to get together with family. We also went up to the Heber Valley Camp with Grandma Herzog. (Grandpa couldn't be there this time) We had lots of fun playing in the campground and jumping bed to bed in the cabins. (Much to my chagrin) We also got the go on the challenge course and ride the giant swing. It was fun and scary. After the challenge course we went down to the lake and rowed around in canoes and paddle boats. It was tiring, but lots of fun. While we were doing all this fun stuff, Anni and Nathan stayed at camp with Grandma. As you can see, Anni wasn't much trouble. Actually, they couldn't find her and started to panic-until they found her sleeping on the chair. Brendon got to do the flag ceremony for the camp with his 2nd cousin Benson. He was really proud to be the one to carry and help put up the American flag until they decided that the Heber Valley Camp flag was shinier. Then he couldn't decide which one was cooler. It was a fun weekend.

We love Orange Julius!

The kids beg all the time for us to make them Orange Julius! Once in a while we give in and make a batch.

Memorial Day Fishing with Dad

The morning started out really rainy, so we went to the memorial day breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa Herzog. It was fun to visit with them. It stopped raining, so Lindsey, Maddie, and Brendon went fishing with dad. They had so much fun catching fish.

We went to Yellowstone as a family the last week of May. We had really lots and lots of fun. We enjoyed the wonderful scenery, geysers, and of course animals! It was so nice to spend time together and just relax. (except the kids fighting in the car-that was sort of un-relaxing)We stayed in a little cabin, where Nathan loved to climb the stairs and onto the coffee table. The girls all got a coon skin cap, and one of them let Nathan borrow theirs. He didn't like it. I took lots of movies with our new video camera, and most of the still pictures I took are on the video camera too. Wouldn't you know it-I can't figure out how to get them on here.

Well, here it goes. I have about a month to catch up on. Brendon graduated from the Big K last month. And no, I don't mean K-mart. He is finished with Kindergarten! He had lots of fun and I think he learned a few things too.