Our Family History

In Our Family This Week...
First of all, I just have to say that LOVE the incredible POWER of my new camera!!  I am amazed at how crisp the images are and the focus is SPOT ON! With that being said... I'll get onto this week's events - which has TONS of pictures!  I just couldn't help myself - shooting with my new camera is awesome!:)

* Last week's FHE lesson was "When We're Helping We're Happy" and as the title suggests, we talked about working together to keep the house running smoothly. We then created (and decorated) new chore charts. We then determined that everyone who did ALL of their chores for the entire week would go to the Movies the following Monday for our FHE activity. Everyone but Ben managed to get all of their chores completed so this Monday we (mom, Seth, Nathan and the girls) went to the Dollar Theater and saw "The Lost Medallion" which was actually a really cute Christian show :)

* Nathan's last T-ball game of the season. Afterward, dad took Nathan and the girls to meet up with the rest of his team at U-Swirl and had some yogurt (mom and the older boys were at Mutual during this).

* Mom had a Relief Society Meeting (Enrichment) on Tuesday
* Mutual and Scouts for the 3 older boys and mom on Wednesday
* Nathan had a Dental appointment

* Dad's cousin, Erin Raijek, and her family are here visiting from Alaska. We had them over for dinner on Thursday. August ended up making the dessert from scratch - an Oreo Cheesecake. Everyone raved about it but I had to pass on it (I have gone 100 days without any desserts/baked goods!).
* Ben and Nathan went with dad to work on Friday. He then treated them to the matinee showing of Iron Man! What lucky little fellas!
* While Ben and Nathan were with dad (see above)... Mom and the rest of the family went to the Train Depot for some exploring and a pinic :)

 * On Saturday, dad wanted to take the family out shooting so we got all ready just to have the Suburban act up and not be driveable. The kids were sooooo sad and so we decided that since we'd be on back roads/dirt roads with not much traffic we threw all of the kids in the bed of the truck and ventured off (all except August - he said that he was having a  headache and didn't feel like going...) We all had a terrific time!! Since we were taking the whole family out, dad borrowed a few guns from a friend so that we'd have plenty to shoot! :)

* August gave the Youth Talk in Sacrament on Service and did a REALLY good job!  He didn't want us to hear it before hand so I was inspired and impressed along with everyone else during Sacrament :)
* The 3 little ones looked SOOO adorable today for church that just HAD to get a picture of them together! Of course, they had to have a picture with Alpha duck too... and how could I refuse? :)  Whenever I take a picture of Nathan and the girls, they automatically go into their "signature" pose - Nathan in the middle with his arms around each girl!  I absolutely LOVE how they just do this automatically! He's such a great big brother to the girls :)

* lots of reading and coming upon this scene...

In Our Homeschool This Week...

 I've also spent quite a bit of time over the past couple of weeks working on a website that the kids could utilize and have all of the awesome links that I've been gathering all in one place and categorized for easy reference...  I really love how it turned out. I used a free Wix.com site and customized it for what I needed :)
Here's a screen shot of the home page: and CLICK HERE to check it out...

 Ben was so impressed with the website that he wanted to make his own!  I told him it might be a bit hard but he was determined so I turned him loose (and with VERY minimal help from me) he came up with this website (the theme of it, all of the pics and even found a tutorial online on how to add videos!) He spent quite a bit of time on it and I'm very proud of him :)  Here's a screen shot of his homepage and CLICK HERE to check his outs...

Kids Say...
On our way to go shooting, we passed the Prison and the girls asked what it was. I explained that's where people who have done bad things and broke the law go. They asked again and I shortened my answer and said that's where wicked people go. About 3 miles later, Aubrie turned to me and asked (with all seriousness) "Is that where Laman is right now?" 

Spiritually Speaking... During Ward Council this morning, our training was on the Temple and I realized that I've been missing out on the blessings of having a Temple so close!  Before it closed for renovations, I went every single week! Since it re-opened (Nov 2012) I have only been about 4 times... I was really struck today how I need to be more diligent in my attendance. It's really scary for me to commit to weekly attendance (not sure why that's scary... I've done it in the past and I ALWAYS had time to do the things I needed) but that's what I'm going to do! :)  I know it will bring the blessing of Peace into my life :)