September

September was kind of a boring month with not a lot going on, besides school and soccer.  So, I'm going to throw it all into one blog post and move on to October!

Tuesday Sept. 1st

 Maggie's friend had an end of summer get-together and they painted and hung out.  

Friday Sept. 4th

I took Bella, Noah and Paige to Out of this World Pizza to play for an end of summer activity.  

That night we all went shoe shopping for school and out to eat at Red Robin.

Saturday Sept. 5th

Remember the "dates" we gave to Garrett for Father's Day?  Noah's was to go bowling with dad and out to lunch, so Garrett took Noah out today.  

 snacking on some French Fries in between bowling games.  

 They had a fun time.

 That night Garrett bought some tickets to another Hillsboro Hops baseball game and invited his dad.  We tried to see if the kids wanted to go, but Lydia was the only one that wanted to come.  We only got to see a couple of innings because we thought it started at 7, but it really started at 6.  Oops!

 Sunday Sept. 6th

We went over to grandma and grandpa's house for dinner that night.  She's also been suggesting that we all sleep over in the bunk house for awhile, but it's been too hot.  So, we thought we'd do it before school started, since Noah hasn't had the chance to sleep up there yet.  

 They've been working on the land behind their's and left the tractor there for the weekend, so the kids got some pictures with it.  It's huge!!

 Putting all our sleeping gear up in the bunk house.

 Noah's spot next to the air mattress where Garrett and I were sleeping.  

 Bella on the futon

 and the other 3.  The next day for one of Paige's Faith in God projects, she had to do a service project of some kind.  So, since grandma just had knee surgery, she set it up for all of us to come and help clean grandma's house.  I know grandma really appreciated it!

Thursday Sept. 10th

Maggie started up her ballroom dance classes again.  Although, she would eventually quit in November when basketball season started up because she had games/practices on Thursday night.  I think she's going to start going again here soon now that basketball is over.

 Friday Sept. 11th

 Paige and her friends Brooke, Sarya and Hailey made up some lemonade and had a lemonade stand.  I think they made some money this time instead of giving it away for free.  

 Their cute sign.  

 There's not a whole lot of traffic on our street, so they made their business mobile and walked around the neighborhood trying to sell their lemonade.  

Saturday Sept. 12th

 I bought another 100 lbs. of apples like I did last year and started working on them everyday.  I pretty much just made applesauce and lots of apple desserts.  

Tuesday Sept. 15th

 For mutual the young women played "minute to win it" games.  I love that Brother Jensen (bishopric member) was playing, too.

 Saturday Sept. 19th

I went to the baptism of one of my primary kids and Garrett took the little kids to the park.  

 Monday Sept. 21st

 Bella taught the FHE lesson on what we should be thinking about during the Sacrament.

Saturday Sept. 26th

It was the General Relief Society Women's Meeting, so Maggie, Lydia and Paige and I dressed up and went to watch it at the Stake Center.  

 These girls are sure cute!

 Going in a little late so we could take a selfie...

 Garrett took these 2 out for hamburgers and chicken nuggets and bought them some new church shoes.  

 After the meeting, we went out to eat at "The Old Spaghetti Factory".

 It was a fun night of girl bonding!!

And with September comes soccer...and lots of soccer pictures.  

 Lydia's team...she had the same coach as last year and she was really excited about it because he's a good coach.

 Paige's team

 Garrett coached Noah's team, with Maggie as his assistant coach.  I think he really enjoys coaching the older kids more.  This was pretty much refereeing recess.  

 Bella as aggressive as ever!

 Paige is getting better!

 Lydia and her friend Kali

 Noah

 He played a lot more this year...we'll see how he does next year.

 The other assistant coach made up these pictures for their team.  

I can't seem to find the other team pictures.  

Finishing Up March

Saturday March 21st

Maggie's social ballroom dance class was asked to perform a few dances at a Roots Tech conference (family history) at our stake center.  

They danced to The Salty Dog Rag

This one was a swing dance.

Her and her partner Tyler.

And then they invited someone up from the audience to do the Virginia Reel. She asked Garrett.

Her social ballroom dance class, plus the Cloggers. (they did a dance, too)

When that was over, we came back and finished packing up because we were heading out to the coast to go camping with our friends the Nelsons.  

Hanging out by the campfire that night after getting set up and having dinner. 

Sunday March 22nd

In the morning, we went to Sacrament Meeting with the Seaside Ward.

Then, we came back and ate lunch and then went swimming.

I love that these two are getting to be good friends.

Paige and her friend Brooke

Noah and Bella loved jumping into the pool--as long as Garrett was there to catch them.

Garrett and Paige stayed behind to play at the park, but the rest of us wanted to leave, so we started walking back to our campsite and stopped to take some pictures of the pretty trees.

Maggie loves her cupcake bandana that she got at Girl's camp last year.  

Enjoying another campfire

Maggie, Bella, Brooke and Paige

Monday March 23rd

This morning, most everyone went swimming again except for Maggie, Lydia and I, who showered and watched an episode of Downton Abbey.  We just recently started watching it from season 1 because the girls wanted to watch it.  

When everyone got back from swimming, we went to eat lunch at Mo's in Cannon Beach.  

We then walked out to the beach--it was cold and windy!  I love this picture of Lydia!! Check out that hair!

The Nelsons

Then we drove back to Seaside and walked around town and walk down to the beach.  Of course we had to ride the carousel!

and the swings!

I loved the sky!  Check out that rain coming in!

Maggie taking selfies!

David and Bella avoiding the waves!  Back in Cannon Beach, David got hit by a wave and his clothes were soaked--so he's wearing his dad's sweatshirt here it looks like. 

I love this picture of all the kids running away from the waves!  Except Garrett and Zach.

McKibben's and Nelson's

We got ice cream and searched around for some Jelly Belly's for Nicholas--and finally found them.  Then we headed back to camp.

Noah's hand's were so cold from throwing rocks into the water, so Garrett was trying to warm them up. 

Nicholas, Maggie and Mike

Gabe and David cooking their marshmallows for s'mores.

Gabe, David and Noah throwing rocks into puddles in the pouring rain.  

Tuesday March 24th

The Nelson's left earlier than us.  Garrett took the little kids swimming again--he is a saint!! Maggie and I played cards. Maggie also likes to show off her muscles now that she is in a strength training class.  :)

Packing up camp

On our way back home.

We always pass this restaurant called "Camp 18" every time we go camping or to the coast.  We've always wanted to stop and try out their food, so we did!

It was pretty cool looking on the inside.  It had a logger's theme since it used to be a logging place.  The food was ok, but it had a fun atmosphere.  

All these wood carved statues were around the place outside, so we had to take pictures with them.  

I loved their axe door handles.  

Thursday March 26

This week was Spring Break for us.  So Monday and Tuesday were camping, Wednesday was nothing but cleaning up and laundry.  On Thursday, Lydia and Paige's friends (who are sisters, too) asked them to go to a park in McMinnville, so they went and spent the afternoon there and at their friend's house after.  

Lydia and her friend Kali.

Kali, Lydia, Kali's brother Matthew and another friend, Niko. Maggie and her friend Emma went to see "Insurgent" that afternoon, then Maggie babysit for us that night so Garrett and I could go see it.  

Friday March 27

Jim and Georgia were so nice and came and took the kids out on a date.  They went to eat lunch at Izzy's (a pizza buffet place), then bowling and then to a farm store to see baby chicks.  It seems like that's what they did last year, too.  They must like it!

While bowling, Paige slipped on the floor and landed on her elbow and hip and scraped some skin off.  She was kinda upset about it.  

Lydia looking like a bowler. 

This is a chicken coop at a farm store.  Can you see my kids inside?

Baby chicks

This is Noah inside the chicken coop pretending to lay an egg.  Silly kids!

Wearing some bunny glasses that my mom sent for Easter in her Easter package.

Saturday March 28

These two cute girls playing barbies in the hallway.  Making a huge mess but having a grand time! In the afternoon, we headed to grandma and grandpa's house to help paint the room in the barn.  

They had already painted the gray, but needed help with the orange.  Bella was helping to take down the base boards.

Grandma and Lydia taking down more baseboards.

Having some dessert after working hard.  After this, me, Maggie, Lydia and Paige changed clothes and headed over to our stake center to watch the General Women's broadcast.  I love that they've changed it to include girls 8 and up.  I'm trying to make it a fun tradition that the girls will remember and enjoy doing with me.  After the meeting, we went to Red Robin for dinner and dessert.  We had a great time!  Of course, I forgot to take pictures of us though.  Ugh!

Sunday March 29

We invited grandma and grandpa over to dinner after church and these girls were helping me cook.  It's nice to have good help in the kitchen!

Tuesday March 31st

I love watching my kids sleep.  I also love how he's cuddling his blanket and bunny.  So cute!