Random Bits

Thomas, just after getting home from the week-long Encampment. 

(Apparently, it was a week-long of no showering as well.)

I bought him a disposable camera so he could take some awesome pictures and treasure the memories for years to come. He filled the whole camera, but unfortunately, the camera didn't come home with him. :(

William built a couple "missionaries" out of Legos. Scriptures and all!

Our family put on a concert at the tabernacle in August. Richard played lots of fun solos, but we also had Marianne play a solo, "The Boy Paganini", and Thomas and Richard performed "Passacaglia", a duet by Handel-Halvorsen.  I played a solo too. I thought I was doing pretty good learning an entire solo for this, but it turned out everyone was disappointed that Richard and I didn't play a duet. Some people are just so hard to please...;)

First day of school. Obviously. Thomas is in 7th grade (JR. HIGH!) Marianne - 6th, William - 4th, Sarah - 2nd, and James (my BABY) is my Kindergartner. Weird. He was way more ready than I. I went to his classroom to say goodbye that day and couldn't hold back the tears. Guess I'm the real baby.

We met Nicole and her kids at Rexburg Rapids on Labor Day. We had a good time, but I failed to take any pictures of the kids or the fun new water park...just this interesting Praying Mantis sitting at the edge of the pool. 

Hey, I thought it was cool.

My parents brought this dog by our house because they thought it had been abandoned. But, more so because they didn't want it hanging around their house anymore. (As soon as my dad saw that my mom was getting attached, he knew he had to take action!) The little pooch and James hung out for an hour or so that afternoon. James adored him! The dog was so well-behaved and sweet. When it was time for James to come in, we put the dog in our fenced backyard, and figured that since we were just so darn nice, he'd want to stay. But, he found a way out, and the last we saw of this dog was his hind end leaving us in the dust. All the kids set out on a search of the neighborhood that afternoon. Even though the older kids hadn't seen the dog (they were still in school), they were thrilled at the thought of having one...even for just a little while. Not long after he got away, we found out who the real owners were. We've been trying to find the poor thing ever since, but he just keeps eluding us. So sad. This was the closest we've ever been to actually thinking about the possibility of maybe having a dog. Scary! 

The poster I had the kids make for Richard's 35th birthday. Marianne and Sarah decorated the kitchen for him, and we made him a fabulous breakfast.