Nathan's 10th birthday party!

Nathan turned the big 1-0 on the 31st of August. We had a small birthday party at the park in town on September 1st. He invited a few friends from school and church. We had a pretty good showing considering that it was a holiday weekend (Labor Day). Here are some pictures from the main event...

 Spiderman pinata.  It broke after only 3 people hit it.  STRONG boys.  Oh well, they got the candy, and that's what seemed to matter!

 Blowing out the candles!  Chocolate cake, icing, and sprinkles.  What the birthday boy requests, the birthday boy gets.  Along with mint and chip ice cream.  YUM!

 The group that was there!  L-R:  Pason, Kevin, Aubrey, Isaac, Chad, Betsy, Emily, Wayne.  Nathan, Talon, Jay.  Fun group of good kids (and a few of mine thrown in too).

 Opening presents!

Water balloon fight!

School Starts! 2012

School started on Friday, August 24th this year.  Yes, a Friday.  Weird, I know. 

Nathan grew up to 5th grade, and moved too quickly to the middle school. He has adjusted well. His teacher is Mrs. Reimer. Here he is on his first day of 5th grade and middle school!!

 Aubrey moved up to 3rd grade and a new school too!  She now goes to Graff Elementary with Mrs. Mandeville as her teacher.  She is doing awesome in school, and her teacher is, by far, my favorite teacher this year.  Aubrey has lucked out, and has had excellent teachers every year thus far!

 Emily went into 2nd grade this year.  Of all the kids she was the only one who didn't change schools.  She stayed at West Elementary.  Her teacher is Mrs. Felker.  She is also a wonderful student!

 Betsy reached the ripe old age of five and went into kindergarten this year.  She goes to school at South Elementary with Mrs. Kaupish as her kindergarten teacher.  She has adjusted great to school, and LOVES to go everyday. 

 Here they are together.  My four kids in school going to four different schools.  I really dislike the way the school district has things set up in Laurel.  Anyway, they are looking all grown up...

 And here is Betsy making the leap and going to school on the bus.  Her buddy helping her on the bus is a wonderful friend, and Betsy just adores Karelyn.  Betsy gave me a very brave, excited smile and got on that big bus.  It was very hard for this momma to send her baby girl away to kindergarten on a bus full of older, bigger kids!

Yes, I cried as the bus drove away.  Didn't think I would, but I did.  Then after a few minutes I dried my eyes, took a deep breath, and did the happy dance...

Park City Utah- August 2012

So, right in the begining of August the Barton Family had a little family reunion in Park City, Utah.  My sister and brother in law, Heather and Jacob, had the right connections and got us a great, huge, beautiful home for an extended weekend.  It was so much fun, and we all enjoyed a little relaxing.  

We went over to the ski-jump training facility and watched the skiers make their jumps into a pool, in the middle of the summer!  It was really neat to watch.  I had no idea they had things like this!  I could have stayed and watched for HOURS. 

 We then all took a short lift ride up the mountain.  Here is David and Betsy waving to the camera.

 Everyone then went over to the Olympic Museam.  We wandered around for a while looking at a bunch of stuff.  It was a pretty neat place.  Here are all the cousins that could come,  SQUEEZING into a bobsled.  It was a TIGHT fit!

 My five, holding onto an official Olympic torch!  They thought it was pretty cool.

 All the cousins that came.  L-R:  Weston, Nathan, Brenan, Jay, Betsy, Kyen, Emily, Shaylin, and Aubrey.  They had SO much fun together.

 

During our stay, there was a young moose that made its appearance a couple times out by the hot tub.  It was fun to watch it wander around like it owned the place!

 Don't mind the hand in the picture.  It took a few shots to get a relatively good shot without us cracking up laughing!  We had a great time together!  The homes behind us look about like the home we stayed in.  Just didn't get a shot of it.  But it was BIG and BEAUTIFUL and a perfect retreat for the end of summer!

July 2012

I have recently been reminded by a person who will remain nameless (HI MOM!), that she does not have Facebook, so she is not able to see as much of my 'daily living' as she wants to.  So she admonished me to get back to blogging!  So, because I am a happy, obedient daughter, I am doing as I am told!  Love you mom!

So, looking back, I realized that I am MONTHS behind.  Ugh.  All the way back to July.  I am terrible at this!  So, here goes!

Because of Davids' AWESOME job, we had a random Tuesday, near the end of July off of work. Paid. Yes, Pioneer Day, July 24th. To celebrate the day, we took a drive toward Red Lodge, MT and went for a hike with all the kids. We had a fun time together. And got some great pictures!

 This shot was taken right before the 'hike' began.  It was less of a hike, and more of a 'hey-come-back-here, don't-run-too-far-ahead, get-down-from-there!' kind of wandering.  But, it was nice to get out in nature with the kiddos.  David read up on the area we would be hiking, and decided, because of multiple bear-sightings, that we would bring along a gun.  We didn't get eaten, or even see a bear!  But more then half of the other hikers on the trail were packing guns too, so we didn't feel too silly.

 And, a bit of bait!  Yes, we brought our dog.  Max LOVED the trail.  And loved barking at every other dog that was also on the trail.  After this adventure, we decided that Max is not a 'hiking-dog'.  But, the kids loved having him with us...

 We took a few impromptu pictures of the kids.  They turned out pretty good.  Here's Nathan!

And Aubrey Sue!

 And Emily Jo!

 Betsy Boo!  Or is it Ann?  Yeah, Betsy Ann!

And last, but CERTAINLY not least, Jay Clay! 

The kids found an ogre head rock.  Can you see it?  Pretty cool, huh?

 Walking part of the trail.  Yes, Nathan is sporting a 'girl bag!'  He was not happy.  And two of the five kids are headed in the opposite direction.  Yes, that is about how it went.  But it was fun!  We really liked the trail!