End of Summer...

My kids claim that they didn't get to do very much this summer. In some ways I agree with them, but when I made a list, it says otherwise. You decide.

First, here's a few pictures of some of the stuff we did or friends we spent time with.

















Now, lets see, what did we do again?

Slid down inflatable slides
Made a scavenger hunt and went on a scavenger hunt
Made blue cupcakes with green frosting
Sidney got her ears pierced
Went fishing
Made fabric rosettes
Hayden got baptized
Danced with a Native American tribe
Made homemade popsicles
Got rained on
Played at a playground/jump center
Swinged on swings
Hayden cut his head and got staples
Visited Cardinal Stadium for RV show
Went to the UFO museum
Tried to make paper mache pinatas
Rode bikes
Went skating at Skateland
Stood in a White Sand desert
Went swimming
Played at a water park
Sidney chopped her hair off
Toasted marshmallows
Ate fresh veggies and fruits from our garden
Went to a Bead Museum
Went to an underground cavern
Visited an aquarium
Played video games
Made homemade bread
Ate at many great restaurants with friends and family
Shot guns
Built sand castle
Rode a carousel
Made cookies
Saw sunsets
Watched lightning
Visited a temple
And played many card and board games
Sang songs out loud, really loud

Oh yeah, and just had some good plain fun!

There is a time for every season...

Sidney has had a blast with her synchronized swimming team. She's made some great friends, and she's learned to push herself farther for something that she wants. The regular season ended a few weeks ago and is allowing a healthy 2 month break before the new season begins. We are glad that she enjoys herself.



Here's Sidney at the end of her last meet where her trio placed 1st! (Can you see the moon behind her?)

A Banner Day...

Saturday was a wonderful day. We all got up bright and early and headed to church for a great event, Hayden's baptism. In our area there are many people who share the same faith(LDS, if you didn't know), so they set aside a day every month for those kids who reach the age of 8 to be baptized. Hayden had to wait over a month to be baptized since his birthday came right after the date during the month of his birthday.



Anyway, he was the very first to be baptized that day. John baptized him.



Hayden got a special present from his former nursery leader. She is now his Pack leader in cub scouts and she gets to see the kids that were in nursery when she was the nursery leader get baptized this year. She decided to embroider a white towel with their name and their baptism date on it in their favorite color. It's turned out beautiful.


Everything happened very quickly. Next, after Hayden and John got dressed, Hayden was confirmed by his Grandpa Muhlestein. That was what Hayden had requested. We had many friends and family show up for the baptism and we're only sad that there were those that wanted to be there but couldn't. We did miss you.



We had a yummy brunch at our house right afterward and most everybody came to that as well.

Hayden got a surprising present during the brunch from our home teacher. A sword. A real sword. A real, heavy sword. The script reads, "The Sword of Laban."



It has a little story that goes with it and has special meaning to it. Come check it out, Hayden would love to show it to you. He hasn't kept his hands off it since it arrived. Thanks to our home teacher, Hayden is grinning from ear to ear.

Only 2 staples...

Saturday. Just a normal day. Hayden's friend had just come over to play. Next thing, shrieking penetrates the quiet. It's coming from Hayden's room. Both John and I are thinking, ok, I guesss we should go see what happened. Not really in any hurry.

We arrive in Hayden's room. He's lying prone on his floor with his left arm holding the side of his head and we hear from his friend that they collided together. Hayden's shrill screaming is much more intense at this close distance. What could possibly be wrong?

"I think I broke my arm!" Hayden cries.

Next, he removes his hand from the side of his head to reveal a bloody palm and a red blur in his hair.

The next few minutes fly very quickly as Hayden seems to have been scooped up and taken to the bathroom without his feet hardly touching the floor. His wound gets cleaned and old towels are stained with what seems to be too much red. It's not real bad, but bad enough.

After a long journey to find an urgent care center that was open, on a Saturday, after 5 pm, we got Hayden fixed up. He received 2 staples in his head. He could have got more but he kept pleading, "Please no more staples, please no more staples..." And they seem to work just fine.

Fortunately, the gash was in his hairline so it won't be very visible, especially when his hair gets long. Like now.

Now, I have to show a couple pictures. They are not too bad, but then I don't get queasy with blood and stuff like that. You have been warned.


First, Hayden is not excited to see what's going to happen.


The gash.


The staples. They will help keep things secure for about 10 days.

At least he waited until he was 8 years old to require equipment or a procedure to keep him together.

His baptism will be memorable as well. How many kids get baptized with staples in their head?

Weekend in New Mexico

We decided to start off our summer vacation by heading out of town. Since the budget was limited we decided to spend it with family. We went to Artesia, New Mexico to see my brother and his family. His little family is growing up so fast that we have to see them before they grow too fast.

With it being Memorial Day weekend, it gave us more time to spend together.

Here's some of the captured moments that were our favorites:

On the way to New Mexico, we passed through eastern Arizona and visited the Gila Valley temple that had been dedicated just the previous Sunday. We weren't able to make it out for the open house, but I'm glad we got the chance to see it all nice and completed.





Once we made it to my brother's place, the kids couldn't wait to play together and we were excited to visit and spend time catching up.

The very next day we got to go to their local park event and the kids played in the water, built a sand castle, checked out a fire engine, and ate snow cones. Good times.

One of my nephews.

Another cutie nephew.

John with my niece.


My brother helping the boys put together a sand castle.

We couldn't miss the opportunity to see the UFO museum in Roswell. It was interesting. We saw quite a few aliens in the vicinity, as well.





We made our way to Ruidoso, up in the mountains to a resort on an Indian reservation and we got to see some dancers and even got a chance to join them. It was warm out on the lawn by the lake, but an enjoyable day nonetheless.





They even had a blow-up slide and bounce house for the kids to play.

We visited Carlsbad Cavern which is truly amazing! And pictures are irrelevant to the size and vastness of it all. If you have an opportunity to go, do it!



We also stayed to watch the bat flight at dusk. There aren't as many bats during this time of year, but there were still plenty to see.


This is the natural entrance to Carlsbad Caverns and the location of the evening bat flight. Instead, we rode an elevator 70 plus stories to visit deep down in the belly of the cavern.

On our way to Carlsbad we stopped at a shooting range to get some practice in. I haven't been shooting in a very long time. My kids have shot a BB gun once, but this was their first time with real bullets.






On our way headed home we stopped at White Sands National Monument. It was very hot, but it was amazing to see white sand dunes go on forever. The kids liked playing in it, except that it was hot.



Overall the vacation was a great success. Too bad it's over so quickly.

What's left of him...

I mentioned several weeks ago that John had begun a new diet. Well, he's on the tail end of it and a noticable change has taken place. It's easier to show in pictures. Check 'em out.





Even after these pictures were taken, he's still lost a couple more pounds. Yay, John.