September

September started with Alden's baptism and then we left to go to Las Vegas for a short family vacation. Michael had a conference there so we decided to make a trip out of it.  It worked out really well.  The first night there we stayed at a hotel. They had a kid place which made it fun for the boys. They had miniature golf, lots of movies we could borrow, archery, and other games.

After dropping Michael off we went over to watch some of the fountains.

The second day we went to the natural history museum in Las Vegas.  We have fun looking at all of the exhibits.  Evan loved seeing all of the stuffed large animals.  The other boys liked the real animals that they had there.  I enjoyed learning even more about Tut's tumb.

After the first night we spent the rest of our time there with the cousins.  Which was a lot of fun.  We enjoyed visiting and playing with them.  We also went to go and see the big horn sheep and feed the fish.  We had a great time!

Breaking down a wall! This was a fun project and really Alden did most of it.  There was a space under the steps that was just wasted space, one day when looking at the steps I realized it and then told Michael how I wanted to knock out the wall to get to it. We were concerned about how it was built underneath and if it would be an easy project or not.  I had my brother-in-law check it out for me when he was here, and okay it so to speak.  We are excited to have some more storage space and a larger toy closet for our boys!

During conference we did a number of different activities... one was conference bingo, building a tent, lego construction of the conference, and using old friends to cut out pictures that line up with the 13 article of faiths. These are pictures of the boys with there article of faith cards they made.

Alden's baptism!

Before Alden's baptism my sister, her husband, and her son came in town along with my Mom and Dad.  It was fun to have all of them over to our home.  The boys enjoyed playing, we enjoyed visiting, getting some projects done, and touring some model homes. It sure was fun having them here!

Alden's big day!

It was neat that we were able to have so much family in town to celebrate this step that Alden has chosen to make.

August

I love my Sunday boys.  It so fun to see them all dressed up so nice. It has been fun to have them all matching, it worked out that I just happened to need Sunday clothes in all of their sizes and then that I was able to find all matching!

This little guy is such cute little one, I can't help but snap some pictures.  After we get out of the pool he loves to get all wrapped up in a towel and either sit on the lawn or in the family room. Usually Benson or Calvin comes and joins him which he loves!

These three have become even better swimmers this year.  It is fun to see the fun things that they think up to do.  Lately they like lining up and all jumping in together or they will take turns doing a special jump and then the other two have to try and do it.  They all have a number of fun jumps that they like to do, but one of my favorites is Benson, he turns around and just falls straight back on his back into the water.  (It scared me the first couple of times, but he loves it and has it down fairly well.)

We decided to go solar a long time ago but it took months to get this little monitor on , finally when we did we could turn on our solar panels. We are hoping that everything works out well, but so far they seem to be working great!

Calvin's 6th birthday! Calvin had a great day..no school, games, yummy food, peter piper pizza, presents.  I don't think it could have gone any better for this little guy.  Calvin is such a joy to have around.  He shares his love with everyone in the house.  He plays really well with all of his brothers and all of his brothers love playing with him.  We love his hugs and his sweet, "I love you's" that he gives out often.

Everyone loved Peter Piper pizza on Calvin's birthday.  Evan and Benson had a hard time coming away from this little toy car.

Calvin had really wanted a remote control car and that wish came true for him this birthday, in fact he got two remote control cars.  All of the boys had a lot of fun playing with them and Calvin couldn't have been more excited about them.

Evan loves playing in the water outside...not as big a fan of the pool but loves all other water and loves being wrapped up in his towel after being in the pool.

It is great to be 8! It is hard to believe that we have an 8 year old in the house. He now goes to scouts which is fun and exciting for him. Alden also had a great birthday, the rest of the pictures must have been on Michael's phone, he too wanted to go to Peter Piper Pizza, and play lots of computer games, we probably went swimming, I know we ate lots of yummy food and of course presents.  Alden had really wanted the game battleship which he did get and has enjoyed playing since!
Alden is out super big helper around the house.  Things would be a lot harder for me without having him around.  He is a great older brother and takes great care of all of his brothers and even takes care of his Mom! He loves to help and does so happily and usually without any complaint and does what I ask quickly right when I ask him.  He sure is a blessing to all of us and we all love him lots.

At Peter Piper Pizza on Alden's birthday Evan got this pig and has held on to it tight ever since.  He loves this little pig.  It was in one of the machines someone had won it but hadn't taken it so one of the workers told us to take it. Evan was sure happy to have it!