Natalie Turns 6

Natalie was so excited to turn 6 on September 15th, and have a fun time with her friends from church and school. We had a Penny birthday party after school on the 14th. It was based on a thing I read in Family Fun...gotta love them. We played fun games with pennies and ate good food. Natalie has great friends and I am so glad to see that.

We love our Natalie! She is very creative and tries hard to please and help others. We are so glad she is part of our family!

Happy 6th birthday Natalie!

Flower Clips for the Girls

Elena got the cutest flower clip at an Activity Day at church so I wanted to make her a white one for her baptism. After the baptism, the cousins went crazy and thanks to Tanna they all made cute flower clips to adorn their hair!

Princess Meghan Turns 4

Meghan is our resident Princess...more specifically Sleeping Beauty, so for her 4th Birthday Party on September 9th she had a princess party. We decorated crowns. wands, searched for Cinderella's shoe, danced at a Ball and played put the Crown on the princess. We had fun and so did all the cute little princess that came!


Happy 4th Birthday Meghan! We love you!

What colors is that?

My parents were visiting for Elena's baptism and we had a great time. I wanted to show my parents how smart my little Vern was so I asked him a question about colors. He had just put on his PJs that he can zip up (he's very proud of that fact) and he was showing them off to grandpa Sherwood. I said, "Vern what color are your jammies?" He responded with a literal spring in his step..."Monkey" as he monkey jumped onto the couch! It was so funny. So all the girls had to get a chance to be monkeys as well. So here are their monkey shots.

Elena's Baptism

On September 5th Elena was baptised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. It was a wonderful day and filled with wonderful family and friends.

Uncle Aaron and cousin Abigail Elledge

Elena with cousin Olivia Elledge

Uncle Ammon, Aunt Emilee and Brittney

While waiting for a key to open the building we got rain before the baptism. Very exciting!

Elena was so excited for this day. Our ward had done some amazing things to get her ready. We have an awesome primary! Thanks.

Lots of family members and friends came to Elena's baptism. We are so grateful for all those that came. Especially two of Elena's school teachers; Mrs. Wade and Ms. Fulmer. Also the family that I babysit their kids came, the Roestenbergs. We hope they enjoyed the baptism and felt the wonderful spirit that was present.

Vern was able to baptise and confirm Elena that day. It was very neat to watch and hear. She has quite a handful of uncles and her grandfathers helped to make her confirmation circle large. She looked well protected with those men around her.

Dad and Elena before the baptism

Elena and mom before the baptism

After the baptism we returned to our home, where my sister, Kim and Kari and mom worked hard to feed a little crowd.

A rare photo of my mom and dad!

Thanks again to everyone that made the day so special for Elena and our family. It means the world to us.

Meghan is going to Preschool!

Last week while our friend, Tiffany, was giving Meghan swim lessons she asked if we wanted to be a part of a preschool co-op with some other ladies in her ward. We were so excited to join in. Meghan has a September birthday, so she misses the school cut off by 8 days. We weren't going to do preschool until next year, but this will be a very fun thing for her. There are 6 kids and so we rotate from home to home each week. I will than teach every 6 weeks.


When I dropped her off it was a weird feeling. I have always had girls with me and it feels like Meghan has always been with me whenever I go places. So having just the boys and me was strange. Little Vern didn't like it very much either. Those two are good buddies wherever we go. Meghan is his second mother.


Meghan had a lot of fun at preschool today. She woke up and was ready to go at 6am. Too bad she had to wait until 10am. She loved coloring, reading BIG books and playing dress up at the end!


I am so glad that we were invited to join the group. Thanks!

Litchfield Park Ward Campout

On August 28-29, we headed to Chavez crossing in Sedona, AZ for our ward cam pout. It was awesome! Thanks to the wonderful duo of Brent and Beth Wilson our new tent was already set up for us when we got there at 8pm.

We enjoyed a fun campfire and visiting with friends, all while the girls ran around with friends having fun. Little Vern and Benjamin were more than thrilled by all the dirt right there on the ground for them to play with. Benjamin tried to bury my water bottle with the dirt.

We all slept well in our new tent, and we all fit in there comfortably, even with the port a crib. The kids did wake up at the crack of dawn and were off exploring.

We climbed the rocky ledge,

explored a cave,

played fun relay games and

cooled off in the very cool creek.

Little Vern and his friend Cougar Holt were given the nicknames of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid by Cougar's dad. They earned it. They couldn't have had more fun anywhere else. When we got home I learned what "dirty blond" hair truly is. Little Vern had so much dirt and tiny pebbles in his hair. It was crazy. He got in the shower and the red dirt started running from his feet and it scared him, as if he was bleeding. So silly our Little Vern. I am sure next time when Benjamin can run with the boys it will be a crazy group!

We had so much fun. We love to camp and we sure don't do it enough.