Mount Hermon Rocks!

I have so many great memories here which helps make it one of my most favorite places on earth. As we drive up Conference drive I feel like my soul smiles. I love it here! And in true Mount Hermon style we had a wonderful time that will not soon be forgotten. And the only thing that is better than Mount Hermon is the people that we get to share it with. I love being there with my sisters and my dad and their families. And I love being there with my cousins and their families and my aunt and uncle too.

This is the field house and rec field. And also the front view from our room this year.

These are the some of the greatest kids that made it so fun and interesting and loud. What would it be if it wasn't loud right?

My family and naked baby. Just when you thought you got your three kids to all smile and hold still at the same time and you want to give yourself an award you realize that there is a naked baby in the picture!? What the ...?

Our room where we got to share a hallway with Court and Johnny and my cousins and all of that without planning it that way. Well God planned it that way and we were blessed because of it. When you only get to be together one week it is good to stay close!

That is us! 1 2 3 and 4 all ours. Our rooms that is.

Sisters. They wouldn't know what to do without each other.

Mmm hmm that is me people! So proud of myself. I climbed the hardest side of the wall. Something about having three kids and still having it makes me feel good.

So proud of Ella she is so brave!

Go Bryce.







This ropes course is amazing. And Bryce was able to go on the zip line at the end of it. We did it together because last time he did it with daddy and I was pregnant with Halle. Bryce says that this was his favorite thing that we did.

Dance party with the cousins.

Also this is our room that we stayed in. It is a little rustic and somewhat small for a family of five, but I would have stayed in it all year if they had let me.

This is a place in the redwoods that we call the Garden of Eden. There is a bunch of places on the rocks that you can jump off of into the river. It was fun and even Bryce jumped off the small rock. It was especially cute because he did it with my dad.




This is our crew. We had fun going up the river. All the green in the water looks scary but it is actually seeds from the trees.

Halle being "a rock star."

This is "train day" as we affectionately call it. We get to ride the train for an hour to the Santa Cruz boardwalk where we get to go on rides and buy yummy treats and see the ocean.

The train ride through the trees is so amazing!

My sisters and my brothers.


My cousins Beth and Rob. My cousins Tommy and Janay and their son Brady.
My Mason!

I love them! This picture was taken in pitch black in the train tunnel. Somehow Jarrod and Mason knew that the picture was coming though.

This is my cousin Beth and Rob's youngest daughter Elaina. She is so cute.

My Mason.

Smores!

Bryce and Violet had so much fun together all week.

We all love Violet.



Me and Beth. I am so thankful for her.

Kelsey and Brandon and my kids, oh I mean their kids.

I was so sad to leave and come home to reality, but I am looking forward to going back. Till we meet again Mount Hermon.

Two Things

So I was going through some pictures from Mount Hermon. Which by the way was the best week maybe all year! Love that place! It is like a little taste of heaven.

ANYway we took this little family picture on the last day of camp. And my first question is how did the naked baby make it in the picture? Really how?

Okay and my other question, is it normal that these kids make me want to have this many kids of my own? How adorable are they? Really! I love them!

Can you relate?

Pure Sorrow Pure Joy

Can you relate to this? Because I surely can...

• One minute you think you are okay and the next minute...not so much.

• One minute you are a mess and the next minute you are filled with joy.

• And then in the next minute you realize that you are wearing some ridiculous outfit! (It was "crazy dress night" at Mount Hermon.)

• Sometimes life is just hard whether you are 2 or 92.

• We will make it Halle, I know we will. God has better days in store!

Disaster

This has been an awful week. Awful!



Job 5:18-19 "For though He wounds, He also bandages. He strikes, but his hands also heal. From six disasters He will rescue you; even in the seventh, He will keep you from evil."



I can relate to the six disasters part!

Warning-This Post is not for the Squimish

So we were camping and my baby (what? even though he is seven he is still my baby) was riding his bike when out of nowhere came a mountain lion. And the mountain lion immediately ripped off my baby's helmet. And thankfully that is all he wanted and then he ran back into the woods with my babies helmet (probably for his young cub that wanted to learn to ride a bike) and luckily this is the only damage that my baby incurred.

See, even the fireman came to chase down the mountain lion and to check on my babies head.

What you don't believe me? Look at those faces would we lie to you? Okay, okay so maybe sometimes the truth isn't as interesting as a good story. So really my baby was riding his bike with no helmet. Shame on you baby! And he somehow fell backward onto a rock wall and split his head open. There was blood everywhere and the firemen really did come to check out his wound and advise us on what to do. Don't ask me how they got there...it's complicated. And in the end we butterflied it. My dad would be so proud. (When I was a kid every time I got hurt and my parents were deciding what to do about the wound, to stitch or not to stitch, my dad would always say "Just butterfly it!") So we shaved his head and held it tight with a couple of sterie strips. Now I just hope that some day he doesn't hate me for his scar. But chicks dig scars right? Wait what chicks? He is only a baby.

Adalyn Joy

Happy Birthday to our Addy. She is one! I can't even believe it. It went by way too quickly although I am looking forward to her year of being one. Her little toddle makes my heart so happy. It is so fun to see her become more and more a part of the gang of little people that run the show around here...Doesn't that face just kill you!?

We love you Addy, you make our hearts happy!

So Proud

I am such a proud mama! Most parents are proud of great sports skills or academic success. I am proud of those things too, don't get me wrong. But I am so proud that my daughters catch tadpoles. There is something about them not being sissy girls that makes me SO PROUD! Bryce of course catches tadpoles too, but that is to be expected. Way to go girls! Keep on catching those nasty slimy things and hanging in there with the boys.

Rolley Polley

So honestly I am going to make this quick because although summer is fun and all I am exhausted! Anyway today we went for a long walk and stopped at the park and had a little bug hunt. Both Bryce and Ella found rolley polleys and brought them home. Well when we got home they wanted to build the bugs a playground. I gave them some cardboard and tape and it went from a playground to a rolley polley house. They spent hours today working on this rolley polley house. As you can see it is quite colorful and it has a nice grassy yard.

On the inside there is a tunnel and a rug and wall hangings. There are also some windows and a flat screen TV.

On the other side of the house there is a bunk bed complete with pillows and a ladder. So all of this for the rolley pollies and guess what...somehow the rolley pollies escaped. Can you believe it? The greatest, most luxurious digs a rolley polley could ever ask for and it just takes off like that! So disappointing, especially for the five year old involved. So I guess tomorrow we are going for another bug hunt.

Recognition

Bryce's first grade class, they are such great kids. We will definitely miss this class.

So school is out. But before school was officially out there was some recognition going on. Bryce was recognized in his class for being a "Writing Wizard." Let me go back for a minute and tell you a little about why he got this award. Somewhere about half way through the year Mrs. Thompson (which have I told you that I think that she is the best thing since sliced bread) pulled me aside and told me that she was so proud of Bryce's writing and that she wanted to show me a couple of his journal entries. So she pulled me into the class and told me about one of their writing assignments that was to write about the person that you would most like to meet in the world. Well she told me about how all of the kids had brainstormed about who that would be together and some came up with movie stars and some came up with sports players and some came up with President Obama. So after they had brainstormed about all of that she went ahead and let them start writing. Well what she had wanted to show me was that Bryce hadn't written about any of those people, he had decided to write about Ruth. Who is Ruth, right? Well Ruth is the little girl that his Sunday school class sponsers in, I think, Africa. He wrote about how he would like to meet her because she doesn't have any money and he would like to meet her and give her money. I know that I am a sap and everything, but it totally made me cry right there in front of Mrs. Thompson. Let's just say that I was so proud of him and felt totally validated as a mother. She also has shown me some of his other writing of which I cannot remember what any of it was about, but anyway way to go Writing Wizard! He also had a great report card of which I was most proud of where Mrs. Thompson had wrote in "Perhaps my favorite trait of Bryce's is that he is always courteous to others and sets a wonderful example for the entire class." Did I mention that I love Mrs. Thompson!?

Bryce also recieved a trophy for playing on the Giants. He also got the NO FEAR award. I loved Bryce's response, "Who would be afraid of baseball, anyway?" Well Bryce, that my son, is why you got the award.

And Ella graduated preschool with a paper graduation cap and everything. She learned so much and was such a good helper in her class. We are so thankful for Mrs. Heather too. She also blessed our lives this year!