Extra August Pictures

These are pictures I took in August that don't really have enough to blog about. They are just cute pictures.

Colton would copy what the kids would do.

Colton taking some of his first steps.

Logan's Delayed Party

Last year we promised Logan a birthday party, and we kept on postponing it. So when it came time for his birthday this year, I was determined to make sure he had a party. We did have to postpone it a couple weeks from his birthday because of our schedules. Logan invited his friends over for a pool party. While we waited for his friends to all come, we played charades. The boys were hilarious to watch! The boys went swimming afterwards. We had cupcakes and popsicles. Logan enjoyed opening his presents. I think his favorite present was silly string because he sprayed it everywhere and used up the whole can within an hour. It was a simple party, but Logan and the kids had a blast, so that's all the matters!

A New Calling

My first activity - a stake activity

So after being in the ward for three months, I finally got a call from one of the bishopric counselors. It had been really nice to have a break and get settled in, but at the same time I was wanting to have a calling so I could serve and get to know other people. Eric and I speculated over what the calling could be. I even had a dream about what calling it would be - young women's secretary. So I was surprised when Brother K asked me to be an activity days leader over the 10-year-olds. I was excited about it because I thought that this is something I can handle and won't push me too much out of my comfort zone.

Shortly after I was called, there was a stake activity for the girls. The stake did a fantastic job, so much so that I had to take some pictures and wanted to share it with the parents. I started a blog. You can read about our adventures here. It was a little weird showing up at the activity and not knowing who "my" girls were.

I do have a partner who helps me. We rotate months. It was my turn the first month. We had 11 girls. That's a lot of girls! In our old ward, this would have been the entire group, so I was quite surprised that this was just the 10-year olds. The girls definitely have me stumped so far. They are good girls, but they also have vibrant personalities, and all want to share them with everybody. I think my biggest obstacle will be trying to teach them (a lesson) and have them listen to me. We'll see how it goes.

Pack Meeting: A Last and a First

My two boys. Pack meeting today was Spencer's last pack meeting as a cub scout. It also was Logan's first pack meeting as an official Cub Scout. Both boys had earned awards, ranging from Logan's Bobcat and good manners belt loop, to Spencer's Webelos, various pins, and his Arrow of Light.

There was some type of fishing theme going on, so the cubmasters kept their snorkeling gear on most of the time. The boys went fishing for some of their easier awards that they earned. When it came time for Logan to actually get his Bobcat, he was supposed to drink the bobcat blood. He would not have anything to do with that, not even after they told him it was tomato juice. He did end up getting the award, only because both Eric and I drank the "blood."

Spencer barely squeeked by with earning his awards. We worked on the awards while we were on vacation in Ohio, up until Spencer's birthday. But all of his hard work paid off, because he earned his Webelos and his Arrow of Light. Spencer's face got painted when they presented the Webelos badge. Spencer also crossed over into Scouts, so all the people who had helped him got down on their hands and knees and made a bridge which I helped lead him across.

Spencer had to crow like a chicken

Piggy Pie

So Kaylen's kinder-prep class has a class pet! Each student has the opportunity to take turns in bringing Piggie Pie, the pet, home. Kaylen has really been looking forward to her turn with Piggy Pie. Kaylen couldn't keep Piggy Pie in her carrying sack, she immediately took it out of the bag when she saw me at the school to pick her up. We took P.P. with us to Grandma and Grandpa's for piano lessons where P.P. watched an awesome rainstorm. We then headed home and ate dinner with P.P., then went to bed. In the morning P.P. went shopping with us. During our adventures, I took many pictures. Kaylen cut them out and glued them into P.P.'s journal. She also got to draw a picture of her adventures, and I had to write about our good times. We had a fun time hosting Piggy Pie in our house and can't wait until next time!

The following night, after we had returned Piggy Pie to school. Kaylen was in tears because she couldn't sleep without P.P. I was ready to go look on ebay for P.P. because I knew her identical siblings had been sold at Kohl's. Fortunately, I didn't have to do that. I managed to find P.P.'s Mini Me in Kaylen's closet.

Wordless Wednesday: A Sunset

Driving home from my parents' house, just after a storm, I had to stop and take a picture of the beautiful sunset. I love our sunsets here. They are so beautiful and a great reminder of the love my Father in Heaven has for me.

8 is Great!

Logan was baptized. Our stake does stake baptisms, so we didn't have to do too much planning for the program. We just got to show up. Logan was baptized with one other boy, Johnny, from our ward. Logan wanted all of his Primary friends to come, so I invited his whole class. We also invited some friends from our old ward. It was so fun to see our old and new friends. Logan did get to choose the closing song, "A Child's Prayer," which Aunt Rhonda played.

After the baptism, we went to our house for pancakes. We had a big pancake bar, with buttermilk and blueberry pancakes (made by Grandpa and Eric), lots of toppings, sausage, and fruit. It was fun to gather with family and friends, and celebrate Logan's special day. We also were able to watch a fabulous DVD of cute pictures of Logan from birth to 8, which my friend, Danean, made. The kids, of course, ended up in the pool.

Wordless Wednesday: Strong Baby

(This is the sewing machine case. The sewing machine IS inside the case!)

HB Logan!

We celebrated Logan's eighth birthday. Just like with all the other kids, it's hard to believe that Logan is already 8! Logan is a quiet joy in our family. Logan is soft-spoken, but has the sweetest, kindest spirit. He is always concerned about others' feelings. On the funny side of things, Logan is our blankie-boy. He still loves the blankets my mom made him when he was born. The blankets are very faded and worn, but he loves to sit, holding, and smelling his blankets.

Logan's birthday was stretched out a few days. On his birthday, he chose his breakfast and dinner foods. I took cupcakes into his classroom so they could also celebrate with Logan. We went to Logan's Roadhouse for dinner. After dinner, Logan opened presents. His cake was postponed to another day because he got dessert at Logan's Roadhouse. His birthday party was postponed and will be soon.

Weekend Getaway: Las Vegas

In the middle of the summer, in the midst of kids fighting and toys strewn about the house, I decided that it was time for a Kim and Eric Break. Eric's favorite band is Rush. The last time they came to the valley, Eric didn't go. With their tour this time around, they skipped us all together. However, they were stopping in Vegas. So, I quietly planned our Rush Vegas trip. It was so hard to keep it all a secret and to make all the trip decisions myself, but I did it. Friday morning I showed up at Eric's work, just under the premise that I was stopping by to say hi. I tried to talk Eric into leaving work early, but he couldn't because he had appointments. I then had to ask him what would he do if I told him the appointments weren't real, that I had some help scheduling those "appointments" from his assistant, to keep his schedule open for us to leave in the afternoon for our getaway.

Eric was able to wrap things up and leave the office in pretty good time. We hit the road. We made great time getting to Vegas. We had enough time, that we were actually able to catch a show Friday night. Do I dare admit that we saw Carrot Top at the Luxor? He was very funny (after I tuned out the not-so-nice things he said). After the show, we went to Aria, our hotel. This was one of those tricky decisions that I had to make by myself. I wanted to stay in a nice hotel, but I had to keep the price down. I ended up doing a you-pay-this-price-without-knowing-the-hotel-name deal. We ended up getting a suite at Vdara. REALLY COOL! It is the only hotel on the strip that does not have a casino and is non-smoking. It was a great place to stay. The room was awesome, and we had a lake view and could watch the Bellagio's fountain show with the Eiffel Tower in the distance.

We found a yummy buffet for breakfast, at the hotel next door. We walked around the strip. Eric has always loved playing the games at Excalibur, so we headed there. Eric won some stuffed animals for the kids. We headed to CSI: The Experience at MGM. We used to watch CSI, and so I thought it would be fun to experience it. I liked it, even though it was kinda cheesy. Eric just thought it was cheesy. However, I do have a CSI diploma to show for my hard work (it's in Spanish though - I clicked on the wrong button).


After CSI, we headed over to ph to "Meet and Greet" Tori Spelling who was in town for HSN for her jewelry show. When we finally found her (after being misdirected by a dumb lady at the hotel), I stood in line, only to be told like 5 minutes later by a little man that I was too late and the line was closed. I tried for the next 15 minutes to convince little man (he wasn't an actual little person, he was just shorter than me and incredibly irritating) to let me join the line or at least wait in case Tori finished early. He wouldn't have any of it. I was so mad I wanted to kick him in the shins and pull out his stupid hi-tech "security" earpiece! So, I ended up being 10 feet away from Tori, and not able to meet her. I did, however, get to stand one foot away from Mehran (her jewelry co-designer), and didn't realize it until after I left. I felt so bummed about it all. I wasn't like some super-crazy obsessed fan, but I liked her. I grew up watching her on 90210, and have since followed her on her reality show. It would have been super cool to meet an actual movie star. Oh well.

We went to a Brazilian restaurant for dinner, which ended up being quite disappointing. Eric loves Brazilian restaurants and is always willing to eat at one. This one wasn't so good. Maybe we ticked off the server by using a coupon and not ordering drinks?! It was quite exciting, getting to the concert, zipping through Vegas in a taxi. It's been quite a while since I've been to a concert, that I actually enjoyed feeling the drums beat in my chest. At first. Then it got a little loud. The concert was good. I think Eric enjoyed it (he better have!) I still couldn't believe that the guys next to me and in front of me were smoking pot, though. Yuck!

Sunday morning, we ate at the best buffet ever (Rio), Eric decided. We started to head home. Just before we got to the dam, the traffic was backed up, so we decided to turn around and go a different way (through Laughlin). Shortly after venturing the other way, I got sick. We had to stop and take care of things. We continued driving along. A couple hours down the road, we were greeted by signs warning of an accident ahead. We ended up stuck in traffic that wasn't moving. We sat there, in the desert, for 1.5 hours. We watched people walk and play ball. We watched the sun set (it was gorgeous). We had found out from a trucker there had been a fatal head-on collision down the road and that the road was completely closed. When the road finally opened up, as we drove past the completely totalled cars, I couldn't believe it. The cars were mangled, and torn apart. There was absolutely no way that anyone walked away from that. I sat there, as we drove, for the next two hours in complete shock. I really feel that we were protected from being in that accident. I think we should have stayed on the road to go on the dam, and we would have totally avoided the accident. But we didn't. We went a way that would have gotten us to the accident area quicker. So, since that didn't slow us down, I got sick and we had to stop, which slowed us down enough so that we weren't in that mangled mess of metal. This just totally strengthened my testimony that Heavenly Father is completely and fully aware of each of us and will protect us and guide us.

Cousins Day - Part 4

For our last summer cousins day, the kids made puppets. I found a kit with foam pieces at a craft store, and bought it. Lindsey excitedly made examples of each of the animals that the kids could make. After the kids made their first couple puppets, we realized that there was enough materials to make more, so the kids got really creative and made some wild and mixed-up animals.

It has been fun to get together with the family on a weekly basis this summer. The kids definitely looked forward to it, and it provided me with some type of leverage (if you don't get your chores done, you'll not swim with the cousins). I think my favorite part about it all was watching the older kids step up and help the younger ones, realizing that it wasn't all about them.

As tradition goes, Lindsey "beautified" the girls by doing their hair after swimming.