We didn't take very many pictures, but we did camp a few more times in 2011.  Once by ourselves to picturesque Wilson Lake, and another time with some friends at close-by Harvey County West.  

When we got back from vacation, I started babysitting Isaiah and Emma full time.  

Other than that, the rest of our summer was spent at the pool. 

Makeovers!  

These three are definitely girly girls.  Dress-ups, makeup, and (if I can get through the knots) hair.   Then watch out cause they love to strut their stuff.

Summer vacation continues...we can't got all the way out to Utah and not see the Soderquist family. Heading up north, we got to play in a little snow on the way.   We went to Grandpa and Grandma's pool, to the copper mine with Mom, and to Sugarhouse park with Dad and Linda.  We also got to meet with our friends at a splash park in Odgen, and see the Airspace museum.  We celebrated Mom's, Mike's and Rachy's birthdays, too!

2011 summer vacation was spent in southern Utah.  We visited the Chavez family in Kanab and did some hiking in Mike's old stomping grounds.  Then we went camping and hiking in Escalante.  And finally ended up meeting Dave and Shelly and their boys at the Grand Canyon.  A very good vacation indeed.

YMCA Volleyball.  Hannah wanted to try it and she ended up doing really well.  It just came naturally and the newbie team that only had two players who had ever played before, actually ended up doing pretty well.  The best part was the friendships they developed. 

The end of another school year.  Bekah's class went to the zoo, Sarah saying goodbye to her PreK teacher and with her friends one field day, and Hannah with her class and her teacher at Elementary Graduation. 

Michael was old enough to go to Bear Essentials that year.  He had such a good time with the other scouts and he earned lots of achievements that day.  We are so glad Mike loves scouting and is so involved.  If it's something to do with scouting, Michael will always have a chance to go. 

This is our traditional trip to the OKC temple/overnight Easter Egg Hunt.  A little chilly that day, but the kids had a blast.  Decorating eggs was another day; and as you can see, with five kids wanting to decorate eggs-we end up with a lot of hard boiled eggs. 

The beginning of April is when we celebrate Michael's birthday.  He got some new cub scout gear.  A Class B uniform which he loves and a pocket knife which he earned by showing us as a wolf that he was responsible to take care of it.  We also got to take some joy rides in a Cessna-our family friends rented one for the day. 

Bekah turns 7 years old!  Our awesome friends, the Andersons, helped us celebrate.  Bekah picked an all-you-can-eat buffet.  At home, the kids like to set up a "throne" for the birthday girl/boy to sit on to receive/open presents.  We like to decorate when someone actually comes all the way out to visit us.  Sometimes it's a big banner, sometimes just sidewalk chalk all over the driveway.  All the kids love to sing on the karyoke machine. 

2011 and some winter fun in the yard.  It's a little too cold for Rachy.  We don't get much snow here, so we revel in the few days when there's enough to play in.

Christmas Miracle

Christmas 2010 was filled with normal traditions, reading about the Birth of Christ, mugs of hot cocoa, presents, etc. But we also had a little Christmas miracle. We put up our little tree like we do every year and decorated it like we do every year. But this year when the kids woke up on Christmas morning, our tree had grown! Our friends, the Genteman family, had an extra 9' tree that was given to them when their house caught fire in 2009 at Christmas time. They asked if we'd like it since our new house has a vaulted ceiling. They wanted to make it a secret, so the whole family came over on Christmas Eve after our kids were in bed. They helped us get it set up and even stayed to help us decorate it. It is the most beautiful, pre-lit tree! The kids were amazed at it and at how it came to be in our house. We tell them it was a miracle-and it was.

Great Wolf Lodge

We went to the Great Wolf Lodge for Christmas!

It's an indoor water park in Kansas City.

A pretty long drive, but worth it.

Most of the pics inside the water park didn't turn out well-but this one did alright and definately captures the excitement all the kids had.

We got the "cabin" themed room and the kids loved the bunk beds with the T.V. and gaming system.

We had to trade off staying with Rachel in the little area, but she did go on the lazy river and into the big pool a few times.

We had such a great time, the kids still talk about it.

LOTS of chlorine-look at those eyes!

Story time in the lodge-when it snowed indoors.

This was a big hit! A family trip that will go down in the record book. In fact, Bekah came home and wrote in her journal all about the fun she had at "Graet Well Flosh".

First completed quilt

I finished my first hand-quilted quilt (I'm still working on my first ever quilt). This one was for my brother Bill and I wanted to give it to him for Christmas, so having a deadline helped. He is in the Navy, so I worked mostly with reds and blues and whites. It's a sampler quilt and I owe it's completion to the wonderful ladies at our church's quilt group. They are great teachers and fun companions. I found I love to quilt-when I make the time to!

Sarah's 5

Sarah's birthday party. She invited Haley Barnard, Kristen Fox, Samuel Kitchen and Elias (she calls him "Elitas") from PreK. They made snow globes and candy houses. She picked a snowflake cake to go with her winter party and she had a great time at her party with her friends.

Winter Quarters, Nebraska

We went on an adventure to Winter Quarters over Thanksgiving weekend 2010. We had never been to visit before so we were very excited about making the trip. The temple is beautiful-we especially loved the stained glass! The visitor's center is quite nice and there was a lot to keep the kids occupied (they like dressing up as pioneers). The town is quaint, we found a little room for the night that was snug. The members put up a wonderful display of gingerbread houses down in the basement of the visitor's center that we got to meander through before we left. A great trip all around!

Fall leaves

Leaf forts built-check.
Leaf balls made-check.
Let the leaf fight begin!
The traditional leaf fight (getting a little more aggressive with Hannah and Michael around). It's all good fun. Everyone likes to be buried in leaves-except Rachy.

Rachy, Sarah, Bekah, Michael and Hannah
Growing up too fast

September was fair

We got some pretty pictures of the flowers in the back yard-we love our butterfly bush! It looks beautiful, it smells beautiful and the butterflies that come are beautiful. The State Fair with the Barnards is also a tradition-we're so glad to have awesome friends. Rachy got a kick out of feeding the animals.