The Eagle

Logan is growing up.  No matter how little I think he should be, he is big.  He's 15 years old, he'll be driving soon, he's in high school, he's taller than his dad, etc.  On November 25th he received his Eagle Scout award.  It was a lovely evening, when Logan and his friend Drew were honored.  Logan really seemed pleased, which was really nice to see.  I got to talk about him, and David prepared a cool slide show for the boys.  Grandma & Grandma  came, Uncle Curt, Aunt Lisa & Uncle Myles, Aunt Sandie & Uncle Larry, and many good friends.  Logan really is a good boy, and I'm glad he enjoyed the evening.  Logan had his dad as his scoutmaster up through getting his Eagle, and now David has been released.  I told him I want him to do it again when Easton turns 12.  We'll see what happens.

Logan's first pinewood derby - can you tell his car didn't do very well?

Logan during his Eagle Project - surveying street signs

We needed a current picture of Logan, so we headed over to the park and took a bunch.  Toward the end he was getting pretty funny, and I think this was the last picture we took, and one of our favorites.

The proud parents with their Eagle Scout

Finishing up

I keep thinking I shouldn't post about things that are happening because I haven't caught up with things from before.  I will never blog again if I continue this way.  I'm sure there are many things I wanted to blog about from the summer, but I will move on to the fall (now that it is winter).

This school year marked a big one for the boys.  Logan is now in 10th grade, getting to start high school this year.  Easton is now in kindergarten!  I made it to the point where all my kids are in school.  This is a good thing.  Easton is only gone for a few hours, so we're easing into the idea of having no kids home all day.

Next year we'll have 3 kids in 3 different schools, and will from then on.  Easton is going to a different elementary school starting in 1st grade, so he can be in the French immersion class.  This means that half of his daily school instruction will be in French.  He will have 2 teachers:  a French-speaking one and an English-speaking one.  Neither teacher will ever speak the other language.  This is exciting and a little scary for me, but Easton and David are all for it.  Lauren has one more year in elementary school after this one.  We're hoping to get the same teacher Logan had for 5th grade because she is the best teacher ever.
Here are the first days:

Logan ready for seminary the first day of 10th grade

Lauren all ready for 4th grade

 Easton SO, SO, SO, SO, SO, SO ready for kindergarten, a week after his siblings started

running to the bus stop, without even looking back to see if we were coming

meeting up with his friend Matthew at the bus stop

finally looking back after I called his name 3 times to say goodbye

Way to go, Idaho, Part II

Our family took an extended trip surrounding the family reunion in McCall.  We drove to Richard's house on Saturday, and got to hang out there a little before we headed to McCall.  Suzanne & family came for a little bit and dropped off Emily to spend the night with us while they stayed in a hotel.  Then on Sunday we went to church in Meridian, then drove up to McCall.
On Wednesday, we drove to Idaho Falls, and spent the night in a hotel there.  We drove around and looked at the river and some really cool benches.

Kids on a fish bench

Logan on a potato bench

Lauren on a horse bench

Easton on a bird bench

The kids by the Snake river, with the Idaho Falls Temple in the background

 The next morning we drove to Rexburg and went to Bear World, just in case we didn't see any bears in Yellowstone.  It's a good thing.

Some of the bears we saw

Another bear we saw

A real bear

The kids and really cute bear cubs . . . I could have watched them for hours

Easton being very brave and petting the chicken at the petting zoo at Bear World

Rozanne almost being very brave and almost feeding the pig

 Then we headed into Yellowstone and saw Old Faithful, and many more geysers.

Old Faithful and Lauren

The boys at a geyser

 We spent the night up in Gardiner, Montana.  The next morning we went back into Yellowstone and saw lots of animals, but no bears or wolves.  When we were watching a movie about Yellowstone it showed some mud pots and I could hear Easton giggling.  He thought it was pretty funny.  So we took him out to see some and he giggled again.  Apparently mud pots hit a funny bone in Easton.  They were quite stinky if you ask me.  We had a great time walking around and driving around.

Logan and a petrified tree

Dragon's Mouth Mud Pot (tee hee)

Easton and Lauren with a buffalo

Lauren acting as the wing tip of a pelican

Lauren and Easton at Yellowstone Lake

Thursday afternoon we drove down to Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  It started raining just as we left Yellowstone.  Good timing.

Leaving Yellowstone

We got to drive by the Tetons on the way down, and they were quite nice to look at.

 We got to Jackson in time to catch the end of the shootout in the middle of town.  Then we went to dinner and stayed in a hotel that night.  The next day we walked around a little, did some tourist shopping, had some ice cream, then headed back home.
 

Kids' favorite part of Jackson Hole

Logan's great photography

YUM!

 We love our own family vacations, and we love the family reunion, but we think we need to separate them next year because we were really pooped by the time we got home.  We did have fun and made excellent memories, like how to fit a cot between the two beds in a Motel 6.

Way to go, Idaho

For our family reunion last summer we went to McCall, Idaho.  A few of us met up at Richard's in Meridian the night before, then we drove up to McCall after church on Sunday.  It was another big lovely house to enjoy.  We found our rooms and settled in.  

The next day we went for a nature walk/hike where we weren't quite sure where we were going, but we were together and had a great time.  

Here's the whole group (minus the photographer) heading out on our 'hike'

The same group from the front

Here are some of us waiting in the shade to find out where we should go

Sisters walking

Later that day we went to Ice Cream Alley where we all enjoyed delicious ice cream.  We walked around the shops and looked at touristy things.

On Tuesday we had our water day.  We spent the morning on some fun watercraft at Payette Lake.

Logan with his wind-blown hair

Lauren wishing she could drive

David with the 2 youngsters

Easton getting off his ride with Aunt Elizabeth and Emily

Coming in when the time was up

Mark riding by

In the afternoon we went and tried more watercraft, where we had to use our own power.  

David, Lauren, Easton & Rozanne heading out on our canoe ride.  Logan already went ahead in his kayak.

Kim, Liz, Luke & Richard

Kelly, Elizabeth, Sarah & Emily

Luke, pulling the canoe up on the beach

Then we enjoyed a little beach time.

Suzanne & family coming in, Logan and Easton on the logs

Cousins enjoying the water

The problem with writing about this so many months later, I don't remember any little details.  We all hung out together, we played some games, ate some food, and enjoyed our surroundings.  There were some deer sightings at the cabin, and the little ones liked riding bikes around in the garage and the driveway.  We had s'mores one night by the fire on the patio, and we all visited.  I love my family, and I look forward to these reunions every year.  This one was sad because my dad wasn't there, and I know he would have loved the ice cream.