We can't get enough of Cheyennah's pictures and videos. She's the "unofficial family historian" at this point. Today I took Jacqueline to get a tooth pulled (in preparation for braces), and while I was gone, the children cranked up the stereo and goofed off. The boys were shooting rubber bands at each other, and Solomon's in the middle just dancing to the music! Who says we don't know how to have fun?! We came home to a nice clean house, with no evidence of the goofing off that went on (except this video). I think Solomon has his father's dancing moves.

Ellie has learned to ride a bike!!! GREAT JOB, ELLIE!!!! (I'm sorry it's sideways, but I didn't know how to rotate a VIDEO!) Cheyennah shot this for us on her little camera. It's nice she did. Some times the video's moving alot...Cheyennah's cracking up laughing, and can't hold still. It's kinda long, but humorous.

We're thrilled to have Dakota finished with high school!

It was a good month for him. He had his birthday (15!!), his last few finals (100% on 3 of the last four, including PHYSICS!), and a nice party to celebrate all the hard work. Our friend, Cynthia Wright volunteered to take pics of him on his birthday. He looks so handsome (righteous, good looking, smart, and funny...hmmm!) Here are some of my favorites.

We also had a little help from Grandpa Dail who took some pics for us of Dakota's party. (Notice in the first picture below that Dakota's on the phone, and has another phone in his hand taking calls!!) They ate, played football, opened some presents, and just hung around relaxing. It was a nice day, with great weather, and they were happy.

We've had a good time this weekend hanging around the local cemetery. Some friends of ours obtained an old historic cemetery, but it had been neglected for years. We got the word out via the local paper, and 150 or so people came (even little ones!) to help clean this old place up! We're happy to have had the chance to work hard and do something good. Here are Cheyennah's "before" pics. We'll go get some "after" ones soon.

Summer fun and high adventure

Also this summer, Dakota and David went on a 50 mile hike in the Oregon wilderness with Dakota's Teachers and Priest's quorums of church. It was a good adventure. They spent a week doing it, hauling their own food and filtering their own water. One of the fathers was a doctor, so I was a little more at ease about the whole thing. Dave enjoyed time with his son, and I was glad to know they are spending time together. They did things Mom wouldn't have done...like sliding down this natural water slide,

and hanging off this rope with just a stick (this is Kelley going down, with Dave in the water below to help...but they all used this same stick to slide on the rope!!), and landing in the river below! Crazy guys! They really had a blast.

They also went deep sea fishing as a quorum on the last day. They caught lots of fish, and enjoyed learning something new.

On the homefront, things were a little nutty. Ryken has decided he likes the whole soldier/army/knight thing. He dresses up in "armor" (his sibling's kneepads and wrist pads) to prepare for "battle" against the dog, or the cat, or a sister. He's having fun, tho. Ellie doesn't mind this kind of dress-up, and even encourages him. Next thing on is a helmet!

What we did on our summer vacation...

We are starting this "blog" to keep people informed of our comings and goings, and providing a nice way to share info/pictures. This is one of the things we've been up to this summer:

We built a barn. Gotta have a place to put all that junk from the garage! It's nice to have, too!

This is the barn at primer stage (the date on the camera is wrong). The yard is torn up, there are holes in the ground, etc. It was not an easy task. From this stage, we put in sprinklers, painted the barn and house, and planted grass in the field. (The blue in the windows is just the backing that needs to be peeled off...they're really clear.

Some of the grass is still in the baby phase, so we can't mow yet. But, we have hope to mow this weekend!

We also made some adjustments to the house to fit better. I'll share photos of that as the jobs get FINISHED. But here is the house painted. It looks better. It still needs some adjustments (and the barn is only 2 colors, but next spring it will be 3 colors). Many of the other projects are in the "almost done" phase. Needless to say, we're tired of working around here. We're ready to hunker down in front of the fireplace and rest... read, learn, tell stories, etc. It'll be nice.