Camping at Heise

Friday we took the the kids camping at Heise for one last hurrah before school starts. We've camped there many times and we always have fun. We decided this year that our tiny 4-man tent just wasn't cuttin' it anymore and so we sprang for a new 8-man tent which we've all been anxious to try out. Well, lets just say it's a good thing I got a picture of the kids with our tent because that was the last time we will ever see it again. The darn tent was so hard to put together, that first thing Saturday morning, it went right back to the store. Thankfully, we did manage to get it standing though...barely. Despite our tent fiasco, Josh feeling pretty sick, Riley playing musical sleeping bags ALL night, and having to share a campsite with total strangers (don't get me started with that one) we did manage to have a good time. How could you not have fun with swimming, water slides, foil dinners and s'mores? Anytime s'mores are involved you're guaranteed a good time!

A Good Day Fishing

Josh and Mason went fishing today to a little nearby pond and Mason caught 8 fish! He loves fishing with his dad and can even reel them in all by himself. However, he's not quite to a point where he's comfortable picking them up and touching them. Thus, the fish on the ground a good foot away from Mason while leaning the opposite direction. Josh says he's gonna to have to get over that one real quick!

Emma had a Birthday Shout-Horray!

Saturday was Emma's 7th birthday! We celebrated by taking the family to Ross Park in Pocatello. All of my sisters, my mom, Josh's mom, a few nieces and nephews, plus one friend of Emma's joined us for the festivities. Not everyone from Josh's side could join us on Saturday so we had another small party today after church. A good time was had by all.

Katelyn's New 'Do

The other day I took Katelyn into the salon and she got a much needed 4 inches cut off. As if that wern't enough, after a year of begging and pleading I finally caved and let Katelyn...are you ready...get bangs!! I know this may not seem like a big deal to some, but for a mom who's daughter fixes her own hair and is completly self-sufficient in the mornings this is a big deal to me. I was worried it would become a hassel and create an extra step in the getting-ready process in the morning. It's only been a few days, so far not too bad. But I have to admit, she does look darn cute and she couldn't be happier with them!

Fun week with sisters

Although Josh was in New Jersey all of last week for work, I was lucky to have my sisters Caroline and Lauren come up for a visit from California. Lauren went to EFY at BYU-Idaho all week, and Caroline stayed back and hung out with me and my other sister Holly. It was so great to have her here and we had something fun planned to do every day. Monday morning we dropped Lauren off at EFY, to which she gave me strict orders not to embarrass her in front of all the cute boys. Me...embarrass you?? Being back on campus brought back so many fond memories of my time at Ricks. It was fun to go back. Later that day we went to Porter Park and let the kids play in the water toys. I love that park. The rest of the week was filled with movies, eating out, Rigby Lake, a luau with the Bradshaw's, a hike with my scouts and a great walk around the river while feeding the ducks and eating snowcones. So what could have been a crazy, boring week with Josh gone turned out to be a crazy, fun week with my sisters.
Here at Porter Park the kids had more fun riding this bench like a horse than playing in the water!






Josh's aunt threw a family luau for the Bradshaw family. The kids loved the yummy smoothies in the coconut cups.

Family Home Evening Hit

Last week Katelyn volunteered to present the lesson for Family Home Evening. She had taken the lesson from a recent Sharing Time in Primary. What she did was get bowl and titled it "Eternal Life" and put a boat in the bowl and titled it "Me" representing all of us. We were then asked to read slips of paper, some listing good things and some were sins. If it was a good thing we got to add a cup of water to the bowl. If it was a sin we had to put a rock into the boat. The object was to get our boat to float. After we had read all the slips of paper, our boat was barely afloat with all the rocks in it. We then were given the chance to repent of our sins and list ways to right the wrongs and remove the rocks from our boat. The boat was then floating with no problems. But the water was still not filled to the top of the bowl. So she pulled out a pitcher of water representing Jesus and filled the bowl to the top. She explained that even when we do all we can, we still can't fill the water to the top of the bowl by ourselves, we need Jesus' help. It then led to a great discussion with the kids about the Atonement. It showed me that my kids really are learning important principles in Primary that they are taking with them beyond Sunday.

Homemade Doughnuts

That's right homemade doughnuts...well, as homemade as I get these days. When I was younger I used to make homemade doughnuts and my parents would give them out to family and neighbors. For awhile I was known as "the girl that makes the doughnuts." They were so good! I've since lost the recipe and haven't made them since. My sister-in-law Melissa just recently gave me this very easy recipe for doughnuts. (Much easier than the ones I used to make). But really yummy and a big hit with the kids. So I give full and complete credit to Melissa for this one!

1 16.3 oz tube of Pillsbury Original Grands Homestyle BIG Biscuits (Not the Flakey or buttermilk kind)
Oil for frying
Cut a hole in the center of each biscuit with a pop bottle cap or whatever you can find that will cut a small hole in the center. Place biscuits in a fryer (set at 375 degrees)for about 2 minutes then turn them and cook 2 more minutes. Remove from fryer and let cool and then add your toppings. You could use whatever you like, I just used sugar and cinnamon. If you don't have a fryer you can use a pot on the stove and it still works well.