Catching Up On All These Events...

Okay--don't look at this post unless you've got some time. I haven't posted for a week so there are a lot of pics on here...

Anton loves his watermelon patch. It's his very own that he planted and takes care of by himself. For some reason he thinks he'll get rich off this so he babies it and carefully watches over it every day. He's doing pretty good and has 18-20 little watermelon growing on all his plants.
One day this past week Anton was headed to go fishing and Mischa begged to go with him. He was so sweet and careful with her. He even took her out in the boat in the middle of the pond. Within 1 minute they had caught a fish and Mischa was so excited!
A quick pic of Me and Peter that Kristina took. Why doesn't this boy ever wear a shirt?
Since Peter took a picture with me, Kristina had to have one too. Check out Peter in the background--he's telling Jade to "stop being such a baby."
Mischa loves to organize: shoes, clothes...chips.

Anton had a lot of fun in AZ hanging out with Vova Stirling before he left on his mission. This was taken at Mount Graham where the Stirlings go camping every year.

Hey--this pipe is a good idea for naughty boys to sit for a while out in the hot sun.

What a cute boy! He's already starting to look like a missionary...

The Stirling's were so gracious to host Anton for a week. We also had a lot of fun with them here in Missouri the week before.
Anton took this right before he left. I'm so thankful to Michelle for helping him so much and for Jenny and Brian for getting him the ticket. We love you, family!
Saturday we spent 5 1/2 hours weeding in the garden. The kids worked so hard and we finished it all so Mike and I treated them to dinner in a restaurant called Pastimes in the nearby town of Hamilton. Our water was turned off (and still isn't back on), so eating out was great! Above is an example of the perfect restaurant manners our kids have. First it was Mac...

Then Brig...

And, of course, Mischa had to follow. Somehow she doesn't look so scary--just cute.

Krissy, Sterling and Jade posing--no smile out of Sterling, though.

This took a few tries, but we finally got Peter to smile with Elena.

We spontaneously stopped by the Durfees on our way home. They were so sweet to let some of us take showers (they still had water). They even fed us homemade brownies and put on a great movie--The Greatest Game Ever Played. We barged in on them so early, they didn't even get dinner. By midnight, when we left, I realized that most of them just got a brownie for dinner. Sounds like I have some payback to do, huh? We had so much fun with them--we only missed Anton--he was out searching for arrowheads on the Grand River.

Jonah and Sharlee putting the mowers away. Yardwork is a family affair.

As soon as we arrived Peter started sweeping their concrete. We thought he was just happy to help, but he was only clearing a path to ride his Ripstick.

This is Brittany, their oldest daughter, keeping the flower garden beautiful and weed-free. Doesn't she have the greatest smile?

The Durfees garden puts mine to shame. I was a little chagrined 'til I found out she's done a garden for years. This garden will hopefully be my role model for next year.

Jadey and Moo-moo by the corn.The Durfees have some beautiful horses--Joann rides in the English style and it's so pretty to watch and fun to learn. Jade can't get enough of horses!

I love this picture of Anton & Mischa. It seems to bring up all my feelings of summer and the Missouri country life. This summer, more than any other, has brought with it feelings of anxiety in regards to my kids growing up too fast. The days seem to fly by and I can't hold on to them. We have one year left with Anton and he'll be gone. What do you try to teach your child when you have one year left with him? I'm so grateful for family and this beautiful world we get as our testing ground. I'm not a world traveler yet, but every place I've seen has something of beauty that tempts me to stay. There is so much to be thankful for.

Anton And Peter In Nauvoo

This is back from when we were in Nauvoo and Anton taped it on his own camera. I thought you might like to see a little bit of his humor. Make sure you mute the music at the bottom first.

Lots of Pics!

Mutual Night! We're preparing for the trek in October and we have 4 trek mutuals and three pre-hikes leading up to it. Joann Durfee is our trek master and she always goes all out. This night was no exception. We worked on memorizing The Living Christ, our trek song (which is awesome), then worked on our trek journals. The kids all had fun putting them together--even the older ones. Josie Durfee and Elena planning their pictures together...

Cute girls--Rebecca, Sharlee Durfee and Niki. Doesn't Niki's hair look cute like that?

Handsome boy--always with a good attitude at mutual.

It was hard to get a pic of Peter--he thought it was funny that I was trying so hard. Jax and Max Bingham spent the night and went with us to mutual. Check out that hair on Jax!

Who is that? Amazing we caught him on camera! This took about twenty tries to get this!

This is Sara, Sheri, and Krissy, with Max Bingham in the background.

Jadey and her dad--they all really had fun decorating their journals.

Of course, the boys couldn't leave without playing some basketball. We're so excited to have a real live basketball court at our church, even though it's a really small one. There is a group of boys who play together 3 times a week at 5:30 AM. That's Peter making a shot with Jonah Durfee in the background and Sterling in the bright blue shirt in the foreground.
We're suprised that Sterling is having a lot of fun at the early morning practices. He and Peter get themselves up and go without any help from Mom and Dad.
We had a little time this week to spend in the garden. Our corn is growing, but not as big as we'd like--too much rain. Doesn't Brig look like a cute farmboy?

Moo-moo loves the new toy the Hansons gave us. She can't ride it by herself and is constantly asking Peter to push her around. Something is wrong with my blog. I can't upload any more pics so I'll post this and try to send a separate post. See you soon, Danie!!!

Trying To Hold On To Summer

Saturday was a marathon school-shopping day. We started out at Gallatin thrift stores and worked our way to Liberty retail stores. We had to get clothes, shoes, socks, underclothes, and all the school supplies for nine kids--plus Sheri and Niki. We finally made it home by 11:00 pm. I'm so glad it's over!

One of our cute, little Gallatin second-hand stores--I spent the most money all day at this place.
Mom can always find something for a good buy wherever she goes.
Kyrie and Augie spent the night on Monday. Kyrie went with us to register Elena and Jade for school.
I can't even remember where we were going in this pic, but doesn't August look cute?
Yeah--school registration! Can you tell how excited Sterling and Niki are?

Anton is home! I really missed him. A hole was in our family while he was gone and we teased him telling him that it felt like 5 kids were gone while he was away because he requires so much attention--and he makes all the kids louder. Last night the girls left for the Binghams and I got to spend time with my three big boys. Mike stayed home with the three little ones so they could have daddy-time. We saw the new Batman movie (wouldn't recommend it) and Peter used his savings to buy a Ripstick. He loves it and we can't get him off it.

Sterling is pretty good at it too, but will have to get his own--Peter pretty much is glued to his. Anton is, of course, camera shy--so no pics of him. It was great to spend time with just the big boys.

I had to put this one on just because it's typical of our days here when we aren't busy. Summer has been great and we don't want it to end. I never could understand why Sis. Hinckley cried when her kids all went back to school every September--now I do.

Sunday Afternoon

Fast Sunday--just hanging out with Grandma, Grandpa, Niki, Sheri and, of course, John Emerson and gang. Sterling bought himself a camera off the internet, so the following pics are to his credit.
Smily Briggy...
Kristina was looking everywhere for her bag of butterscotch candy. Guess we found out who took it!
Pretty Krissy on Mom and Dad's bed.
I love this pic of Niki and Peter. Once again, I love Sundays! I can't wait to hear how Dani is doing! Call me, Dani!!! We're hoping for a November trip to AZ!

Fun With Lisa & Hayley

The last few days we've had Lisa and Hayley Kohl visiting us. It was a really short visit, but it was really nice and we were glad they could stay right here in our house with us. They're up at Tina and Jeff's house now and will be leaving for Pittsburgh on Sunday. We had fun seeing Jamesport, riding quads over some of the property, going to Mutual and just hanging out. The little boys and Hayley really had fun catching frogs and playing with the kittens!
In the playhouse with the frogs and kittens
Brig and Hayley had a good, long ride with Lisa and I over to Grandma and Grandpa's house and back. Except for the cow manure that flew up on us and getting stuck once, we had a great time.
Hayley loved the kittys and REALLY wanted to take the black one home. We didn't think that would go over well in baggage claim on the airplane.
Krissy showing off her braces--off in 1 1/2 months!
Sterling spent all day today building a nice comfortable house for the kittens. It's nice in the summer to have time to just hang out and do what you want for a few hours each day. I love you family! I wonder how its going at the airport right now???? I'll be calling you tomorrow, Danie!