Cedar City

We were able to visit some of our good friends in Cedar City.  Bracken went to karate with his friend Jairus while the girls and I hung out with the Eggertsen's, then we were able to visit the Leavitt's. My kids loved their pets....geckos and snakes...and of course just spending time with our friends.  We love and miss our Cedar friends!

A visit from Cousins!

 We LOVE having cousins come to visit!  They were even here for my birthday, which was super fun. Bracken, Ethan and Adelle spent a large part of their time together trying to start a fire with a magnifying glass and playing Wilderness Survival Outside. They finally succeeded in starting a fire with a little help from Uncle Mike.  They they roasted popcorn and apples over the fire on bamboo skewers.

 We went for a walk around Silver Lake...the kids had a great time exploring.

 Love these cute cousins!

Sally painted our fire hydrant while she was here.  Isn't she incredibly talented?! We love how our "family dog" turned out.

 We came outside to call these two cuties in for dinner one night and found art work on the house, mudpies everywhere, and decided hose downs were necessary. :) They had so much fun.

Handwriting

Chandra thinks writing in flour or cornmeal is a much more enjoyable way to practice her handwriting than using a pen and paper. She has been working so hard to hold her pencil correctly, and it's finally clicking!

Wilderness Survival School

From Bracken's Journal: "I started a Wilderness Survival School. I made and ate pine needle tea.  Melissa taught us how to make a fire with a bow and drill.  I've been climbing lots of trees.  I climb super high! I built a lean-to fort in my backyard with sticks and a Levi blanket.  Zedek loved my fort. Iv'e been learning about edible plants. I like the fruit that grows on marshmallow plants. We found purslane too.  We found chestnuts, we almost ate them but we looked it up after Sister Stapel warned us and they were poisonous horse chestnuts.  I'm glad we didn't eat them."

 Bracken decided one day after listening to a little story about a Wilderness School that he wanted to start his own school.  We have an awesome teacher living right above us!  Melissa worked for Anazasi, a wilderness therapy program for troubled teens, and knows how to make her own shelters, packs, and build a fire with sticks.  Bracken asked her to teach him, and we had the best class on making a fire with a bow and drill in our backyard one afternoon.  Thanks Melissa!

 The nest filled with kindling. 

I didn't realize you needed so many supplies to start a fire with a bow and drill.  Melissa gathered and made all of these ingredients and tools herself.  

Blowing on the coal to get it to light. 

Bracken taking a turn with the bow and drill. 

Bracken has arranged to shoot BB guns with our neighbor for another day of Wilderness Survival School.  He is also planning on running away for a day to survive on his own. He has been bouncing ideas off me for what he should take with him and do when he does run away. We're reading "My Side of the Mountain" together, (about a boy who runs away from home and survives in the woods by himself) and that get's his imagination going even further.

Soccer Miracle

Bracken is playing soccer for the first time this fall.  He's been looking forward to his first practice for weeks, checking the calendar every day to see how far away it was.  He was SO excited to be on a team with his own real soccer uniform.  

On the day of his first practice we went to a park 20 minutes away from our house and I locked the keys in the car.  He was beyond sad!  As I was trying to call a locksmith (which I decided not to hire when I found out it would cost $75) and figure out  a way to get in our car he sat there trying to be brave and then bursting into tears because he was going to miss his first practice.  Moments later I got a phone call from Shaylee.  She asked what we were up to and when I told her she drove to my house (from where she was working in SLC), got our spare key, and drove the extra 20 minutes to the park, rescued us, and then went to Bracken's soccer practice with us.  She saved our night!  

I was so grateful for family that night and for Heavenly Father hearing Bracken's prayers. As soon as he got home from practice that night he wrote this thank you card for Shaylee. 

Hello Baby!

Two teeth on top, two on bottom.  Kinsey loves to be naked and takes off running the second we let our guard down while changing her diaper or after her bath.  She started walking the day she turned one and hasn't looked back.  She loves milk and grapes and any kind of berries. She is so cute and sweet, but has the grabbiest little fingers. She'll be innocently sitting by you, and the next thing you know she's grabbing your cheek, face, or nose and is pulling and squeezing with all her might...or pulling your hair until she's holding a handful of it.  Chandra gets clawed the worst, but we've all had blood drawn on multiple occasions.  We're working hard to teach her to be gentle.  In fact, her first word after "dada" and "mama" was "Soft." Probably because we beg her to be soft so often. She says it so sweetly while petting her own face or the person next to her.  Hopefully the clawing will stop soon!