Summer Vacation

A smattering of pictures from a wonderful, inspiring, exciting, and fulfilling family vacation!  We traveled from Utah to Washington and back again... by plane, car, boat, train, and bike.  You know a vacation was really good when you arrive home feeling rested and renewed.

Audrey's Special Day

This morning Audrey was baptized by her daddy...  what a lovely, peaceful event it was!  

We enjoyed beautiful music, a marvelous talk by Grandma Lewis, and writing personalized cards to Audrey.  She was radiant and so happy to be able to take this important step in her life.  

Afterward she described her feelings to me and said that throughout the meeting she felt her insides "fill up with spiritual things."  Emotions were tender as I saw my oldest daughter, so pure and faithful, wanting to be the best she can be throughout her life.  Our primary president gave Audrey a special baptism book to fill out and she spent the morning pondering her thoughts of the day and recording them.  I hope she remembers the feelings she had today.  How blessed we are to have the ordinance of baptism. 

 

 

 

 

With her basket of handwritten cards (she went home and read them all!)

 

Relaxing at home afterward

 

Opening a gift from cousin Haylee

Caleb turns 3!

Our sweet Caleb turns 3 today...  he is such a wonderful little guy.  Always cheerful and polite, plays nicely with most everyone, quite coordinated and helpful!  What would I do without this kind little boy?  His disposition makes our home a happier place and we are excited to see him growing up.

Photo Shoot

It's family photo shoot time again and each year gets a bit more complex as we add new faces and personalities to the bunch.  We were blessed with a few pictures where mostly everyone was looking at the camera and had a somewhat decent expression.  This was our first runner up for Christmas card hall of fame.  Another year down!

Costume Parade

We decided on a lego theme this year (except for Kooper, who went as Napoleon Dynamite).  We made real lego people heads and hands for Brendan and Audrey out of animal cracker tubs and then created lego bricks out of boxes and plastic cups.  With the addition of some bright yellow spray paint, the costumes were finished!  Everyone had so much fun wearing them at our ward trunk or treat. 

 

8 months

Really just yesterday James entered the world with his handsome cap of dark hair and big kind eyes.  He is quite large for his ripe age of 8 months, crawls everywhere, pulls to standing, and laughs or giggles at his siblings especially.  They lovingly refer to him as Jamers, with Caleb close behind, uttering his take on the nickname, which sounds more like "dame-ohs" (adorable).

Sometimes I just can't stop squeezing and kissing this little... I mean big...  precious guy.

School Portraits

It's so fun to see each child growing up... school portraits have a way of making children seem older.

I marvel that I have three school aged children. I marvel at how beautiful they are. I marvel at how each of their spirits is developing so well and how they've each learned so much.

What an extraordinary blessing to be a parent.

Sprouting Lessons from the Master

A riddle...

What:

• will grow in any climate at any time of the year
• requires neither soil or sunshine, but is still rich in vitamins and minerals
• has not been subject to chemical sprays while growing
• is extremely economical and in preparation has no waste
• contains more than double the nutritive value of fresh fruits and vegetables
  
• can be grown indoors within a minimum amount of space
• can be stored with your year supply of food
  
• matures fully in 3-5 days ... ?

The answer... sprouts!

We are on a quest to learn the art of sprouting - an ingenious way to be able to store all of the nutritional benefits of fresh fruits and veggies on food storage shelves in seed form. Sprout seeds of almost anything (fruits, veggies, legumes, nuts) can be stored long term and can then be sprouted within 3-5 days to provide variety and enhanced nutrition to boxed and bottled goods.

After researching the topic a bit and learning these things, I was fascinated that sprouts provide more than double the nutrients of regular fresh fruits and vegetables, PLUS the seeds can be stored, so we decided we had to become better at learning how to sprout seeds in our own kitchen.

My first few batches failed miserably, and we realized we needed help from an expert. Shortly afterward we flew Great Grandma Lewis here for some Sprouting & Food Storage 101. This special lady has been sprouting and teaching food storage for longer than my lifetime and she lives what she teaches.

Grandma eats sprouts every day along with other nutrient rich foods, avoids sugar and meat, and thus she is quite literally the picture of health (i.e. bikes around town for errands instead of driving, completed a 27 mile boy scout hike with the local troop at the age of 82, and doesn't need much sleep because she has so much energy...).

Needless to say, her sprouting demonstrations opened my eyes to this incredible food. Admittedly, I am still a novice at this ancient art, but each batch turns out a bit better than the last and someday I hope to be a pro like Grandma.

What a joy to have her here! To connect with her stories of the past and make new stories together with our children. She is truly an inspiration to our family.

We hope Great Grandma Fletcher can come out for a visit next... we miss you!!

Back to School

Another school year begins today and we have three little ones enrolled this year, plus Kooper who is now a sophomore. We enjoyed a relaxed and wonderful summer together and I was sad to send them off this morning. Everyone seemed quite well-prepared and ready for another year. Yesterday we practiced everything from waking up and morning chores to introducing themselves to new friends in class. New schedules and routines ahead will keep us ever-busy and ever-learning how to adapt to it all. How fun to see them all growing up!

Family Trip

We recently ventured to San Antonio, TX (about 3 hours away, which is about as feasibly far as we can get right now) with the entire family (yes, all 8 of us!). What a fun time it was - surprisingly so! We enjoyed a beautiful hotel right on the Riverwalk, visited the Alamo, and had a wonderful raw food dinner at green in downtown San Antonio. Talk about healthy and fun!! Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

Here's James lounging poolside:

At the San Antonio temple...

Handsome Kooper on the Riverwalk:

We had the entire pool all to ourselves!

An incredible feast of antioxidants and nutrients at green...

Couldn't miss the Alamo...

Here we are on the Riverwalk before dinner:

A perfect vacation choice for us this year. Even Kooper enjoyed himself. He was a trooper with so many little ones! We will be back again I'm sure...

Madeline is 5!!

We celebrated Madeline's birthday this weekend with a small celebration at the splash pad! Madeline is a smart and spunky little lady and is excited to begin Kindergarten soon. We love you Maddie Kate!!