Happy Birthday, Samuel!

The big 3 - 3 finally came for Samuel and

all I can say is,

"Good grief!  Thank goodness it's here!"

As much as I love celebrating how many wonderful

years he has graced this earth...

every...single...year

(because I'm older by two weeks),

he gloats about how he's a whole year younger than me!

Do your math, buddy!

Even if I have to say I'm 33

and you get to say your 32

-I'm still only two weeks older!

Anyway...

his birthday wouldn't be the same without this

annual back and forth,

and truly,

"Happy Birthday, Samuel!"

I love you, hon!

This year was a bit unconventional for us

in that I was away for the big day in Bakersfield, California.

My grandma's nephew passed away and

I drove her and my little sister down for the funeral.

It was a wonderful opporunity to visit

family that I haven't seen since I was a little girl,

and to be able to spend time with my grandma and sister

was priceless!

What to do about the homefront though?

Well the day before I left,

I baked my buns off and 

gave the girls the secret mission of carrying

on the festivities without momma!

I am so proud of those girls!

They put the finishing touches on a 

hearty lasagna dinner,

wrapped dad's gifts,

AND

served Samuel's favorite chocolate cake for dessert! 

They are wondeful little momma's!

And the boys,

they played their part well too!

Keeping daddy busy with their escapades so

the girls could finish up!

...

When I got home the next day,

there was nothing but hugs and kisses

from all but one...

Gabriel!

He refused to look at me,

or let me hold him!

He was so, so upset with me for leaving!

I apologized and

told him I was home now,

and only then did he crawl into my arms!

What a sweetie! 

I love my brood!

Graceful Ballerinas?

My sister, Julia,

is in an advanced ballet class

and recently learned how to

be lifted gracefully as part of her routine.

The kiddos, of course,

went crazy trying to do the same thing,

and Samuel,

the unfortunate counterpart,

nearly keeled over after hefting them

time and time again.

The worst, by far,

was Isabella!

Who crumpled the moment he

touched her waist!

The best?

Gabriel!

He was a natural!

All my money is on that guy!

Maybe we'll see him in Swan Lake someday...

Though that would be a bit awkward since

he'd be the one being lifted...

Anyway,

great fun!

Tons of good pictures and

many, many laughs!

Feliz Aniversario: Once Anos!

What a day!

Or should I say,

"What 11 years!"

That doesn't really make sense,

but either way,

for our family,

it's happy commeration

of when our family began!

Samuel surprised me by coming home for lunch,

and announcing that he was home for the day!

Woo-hoo!

Then he whipped out a picnic,

complete with a baguette and chev're goat cheese

-my favorite!-

and we headed to the park!

For dessert,

my fatal hubris:

Scotchmallows...

11 of them!

Recently we scored a bocce ball set from a

second-hand store,

and with courts just down the way at a local park,

it's our new favorite game!

Now that we had an audience...

Let the games begin!

What a wonderful day!

The only flaw was that my girls

were at school and missed out on the

"stolen" afternoon!

More excuse to get out again

-and soon-

to do this all over again!

...

P.S.

Samuel,

I love you!

xoxome

January Madness

Boy,

what happened to

easing into the new year? 

Our January calandar filled up in no time...

proving, once again,

that the old adage is true:

No rest for the weary...

and the righteous don't need none!

By the way,

we're definitialy the former-not the latter!

January did give us the opportunity

to watch Samuel coach-for two minutes-

the young men in Basketball. 

Then they needed a ref-

something he's not to keen on,

but did great!

The young men weren't

so fond of him thereafter,

but I,

to the great embarrassment of Owen,

screamed my head off for our side...

and the awesome ref!

He kept saying,

"Mom, why are you yelling?!?

Stop!"

No way, boy!

And get used to it!

Team 803

Samuel has the greatest privelege of

working with the young men of our ward

as Assistant Varsity Coach.

He loves it,

unfortunately,

being enrolled in an aggresive MBA program,

working fulltime for the city,

being a father of five rascalians,

and husband to ME,

stretches him extemely thin and

makes it impossible to attend all

the activities like he'd like to.

Thank goodness for school breaks,

when we ALL benefit from seeing him  little bit more!

Go Team 803!

School's Out...And Leaves Are Scratchy

With Samuel back at school for his MBA,

we developed a tradition to celebrate and

kick-off his summer or winter breaks:

We ALL go to school

on his last day of class and

bum around until he's officially done!

The kids love exploring the campus,

and I love not waiting at home another night!

This year, being winter break,

the leaves were everywhere which

provided endless entertainment for the kiddos.

The downside?

Leaves don't feels so good down in the all

the nooks and crannies-

which is where they absolutely end up

when you play like these kids do!

HAPPY WINTER BREAK

and...

ONLY ONE MORE

SEMESTER TO GO!!!

The Turkey Bowl

Woo hoo!

Bet you didn't know turkeys had big guns!

Yes, that's my man in all his glory

and he did me proud!

Let me back up a bit...

The morning of was absolutely gorgeous

and we love to tag along for the big day,

only this time I thought I'd take the kids on a bike ride

before we hit the sidelines.

We gave our high fives,

said our good-byes,

and no sooner did we get to the other side of the street

when I realized that my tire, and Iris',

was completely deflated.

And this after a pump up only moments before!

Back to the game then,

where we all hopped the fence to get in

-the kids LOVED that part-

and I got to hang with a friend while the boys threw

the pigskin around!

You can't beat a turkey bowl!

Except for the fact that a hen bowl

would be pretty rockin' too!

Activity Day Recognition Night

I am so, so fortunate to work with Activity Days in Primary!

This year,

our recognition night

was a father and daughter affair

featuring pizza,

a quilting service project,

and cake decorating!

The girls had a BLAST! 

And it was wonderful to see them

spending some one-on-one time

with their dads. 

The sugar-buzzed evening ended

with a raging game of something or other in the gym!

All I know is,

they kept running back and forth

screaming!

Congrats girls!

You have accomplished so much!



Camp Pahatse: Varsity Challenge

Camp Pahatse

By:

Samuel Elmer

 

We arrived on Friday and the first item was to

set-up Ultimate Dodgeball,

our contribution to the Varsity Challenge games.

As you can see,

in the center of the court was a giant log.

The boys wanted to place the spike-rittled log in

the center of the court for added awesomeness.

We said, "YES".

And there it is.

Bro. Womeldorf kindly cooked breakfast.

After some service we headed to the Potato Gun.

It shot the length of two football fields and

the boys were deathly afraid of it.

Not me.

Skill level ranged wildly at the archery range.

Dodgeball:

We were creamed at our own game.

Score:  0-5

Not awesome.

Back at camp for break and refreshment.

You'll notice the a table is lacking.

That's because I left it in my garage at home.

Whoopsie!

Who's bad?

Me shooting a 500 Magnum Pistol.

Awesome!

More guns!

More awesome!

Throwing tomohawks is harder than it looks.

Can it get any worse than 0-5 in Dodgeball?

Yes.

Swamping the canoe and being disqualified.

Raft-building was our strongest event.

Finally.

Old-fashioned Two-man Saw

We rocked this too.

Capture the Flag

Closing Ceremonies

The boys had a blast and really came together working hard. 

I really enjoyed getting to know our boys better,

and they're wonderful priesthood holders.

I missed my family.

And was excited to share this great experience with them.

Snow!