Catching Up

"Grandma thinks I'm even cute when I cry."
On September 19 our 8th grandchild, Ava Elizabeth was born. Thanks to everyone here at home (especially Terry) I was able to spend several days in Logan playing with Ava.
Terry and the boys drove up with me and spent the night before heading home. When we arrived, Carter and Isaac put on their PJs and washed their hands so they could hold Ava. A little while later, Isaac washed his hands again and then asked Jenna if he could "pet the baby." He was so cute with her.

Ava with Grandpa Terry
...with Grandpa Garth. See the resemblance?
Proud Mom and Dad

With Cameron's help, Heidi took these darling pictures of the girls. I just had to share them. Aren't they adorable!





Heidi took some fun senior pictures for Kaitlynn. During the photo shoot, Heidi told her to "do something with your hands". This first picture is the result of that. A few weeks later Heidi did the pictures for the Sadie's Dance. The theme was "Sadie Goes Hunting" which Kait thought was lame, but the day was fun anyway.





Like a lot of you, we took the traditional first-day-of-school pictures. Isaac is in a second year of preschool, Carter is in 4th grade, and Kaitlynn is a senior. As you can see, Carter also got braces this summer. Not that we think 9 year olds need straight teeth, but it's to correct a problem that might have cost him a permanent tooth.




I remodeled our bedroom. I should have taken a before and after picture. The walls used to be teal green. Ann came home for lunch one afternoon after I had just finished painting the top half of the walls. Well, you can imagine the combination of the old and new colors along side each other. I believe Ann's comment was, "Mom, have you lost your mind?" Sometimes I quietly ask myself that same question in the middle of a painting project, but I just keep reminding myself that I have to wait to see the final outcome. I also picked out new carpet, bedding, and light fixtures. In the end, I was really pleased with the outcome... and so was Terry. He's always good to let me do what I want in the house when it comes to colors.


We had "Cousin Camp" this year. I was so busy running the camp that I forgot to take pictures. I found this one picture taken during crafts. You can't see Heidi, but she's teaching the girls how to make necklaces out of string licorice, cereal straws and gummy savers.


Brooklynn had a birthday. She turned 6 in August. She told Ann she wanted a pink guitar for her birthday. I'm not sure why she asked for pink because blue is her favorite color. Notice the cast.... she wanted it blue but they were all out of blue at the hospital. She also started kindergarten in September.



Carter earned a gold medal in 3rd grade. This was an award that he worked on all year. There was a list of 17 requirements for the gold medal and each student had to complete 15 of the 17. It included things like a 2-hour service project, reading 400 or more minutes a month (outside of school), complete 4 book related projects, score 100% on 12 spelling tests, 80% mastery on all science tests, mastery of multiplications facts to 100, 6 or fewer absences or tardies. The final week of school Carter needed to score 80% on his final science test. His teacher always gave the test and then an opportunity to improve your score, but that final week she didn't so Carter was pretty excited when he only missed 1 question on the test.