October

For the kid's fall break we went camping to the Mogollun Rim in Payson Az. We did something crazy and found an old canoe someone was selling and bought it!

On the way up we stopped at Bass Pro Shop to pick up some paddles.

We loved camping near Willow Springs Lake. It was beautiful and we had so much fun in our new canoe!

We enjoyed several days of hanging out by the lake and Easton was insistent on figuring out how to fish. He found bait, string and a hook and dutifully dragged the line behind the canoe. He was sad he didn't catch anything but sure had fun trying!

We checked out the Mogollun Rim of course.

Chad made these cool telescoping poles for our tarp over our trailer and they worked great!

We had so much fun it wore William out.

We finished our garden for Easton's plants and Lydia also planted a grape vine!

Sophie turned 11! So crazy she will be in young women's in January.

She got to have a friend birthday party this year and decided to have a scavenger hunt and decorate cupcakes. She planned the party all by herself and did a great job.

She is so grown up she has decided she didn't want to get too dressed up for Halloween and wanted to help pass out candy instead of trick or treating.

The kids got to enjoy two trunk or treats and regular trick or treating so we have a lot of candy. But they had a blast!

August and September

William started preschool with Gavin in august. Sarah and I take turns each week at each others houses. They have been loving it.

The girls have continued to enjoy baking lessons. They made a delicious pineapple upside down cake from scratch.

We went camping for Chad's birthday up to Mount Graham. Right when we got up the mountain it started pouring rain and hailing. Luckily the storm cleared and we enjoyed the campground mostly to ourselves. We gave Chad a competition throwing axe and brought it to test it out!

We also helped with a bake sale and car wash for a family in our community who were in a car accident. The girls did a great job running the bake sale and the boys had a blast washing cars and holding signs.

The kid's fall break started and we went to check out Amy's Donuts with cousins. They were delicious!

July

For Fourth of July we went and checked out the parade. We decided next year it would be fun to have Eleanor in the parade next year.

Easton decided he is growing up this summer. Not only has he taught himself to swim he also asked to take off his training wheels and starting riding a bike!

The kids started school. Sophie is in 5th grade, Lydia 3rd and Easton 1st.

William also started preschool with his cousin Gavin.

Our air conditioner went out this month which was so much fun. yay. It was so hot we had to move in with Grandma and Grandpa Clayton for a few days. We had to find a temporary home for Skywalker and thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Miller she was happy as can be in their spare bathroom.

We went camping to cooler weather to escape the heat. We went with some friends which was so fun!

Easton heard about how in the past natives would use agave as a needle and thread and decided he wanted to try it. He successfully pulled the thorn off the first try with the strings attached and was so excited to sew with it.