First Day of School 2011

Every now and then, I get a reminder that I'm getting old... things like... sharing shoes with my daughter, getting beat in an arm wrestle with my son...

AND HAVING THREE CHILDREN IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!!!

That's right! Rimrock Elementary School is swarming with Stevens children this year! Thank goodness my mom helped me out with school supplies! I couldn't wait to get that enormous pile of paper, glue, and notebooks off my kitchen counter! And my poor pencil sharpener was SMOKIN' after sharpening that ridiculous amount of required pencils!

The night before school began, we had our traditional Sunday FHE where we set goals, talked about standards, and gave each child a Father's blessing--a tradition that both Justin and I experienced and appreciated as children. The kids went to bed feeling calm and peaceful... but for some reason, they woke up with all sorts of crazy emotions:

They were feeling...

APPREHENSIVE, DEMONIC, and CREEPY about school!

They were feeling SILLY about school!

They were feeling CHESSY about school!

They were feeling unusually ECSTATIC about school!

What teacher wouldn't love these faces?

The Three Amigos, Partners in Crime, The Wolfpack, Best Friends.

(Haydn, Paxton, & Ky)

It was an especially big day for Carson who is Rimrock's newest raptor. Yes, look out Kindergarten. Carson has arrived! I hope they have enough room to contain his enormous imagination. At back to school night, Carson's teacher asked me to complete a write-up about Carson's personality. Oh... describing Carson was totally comical! I was giggling the entire time I was typing. He is one of a kind for sure! He may keep Miss Parker busy with all of his questions, but he's pretty hard not to fall in love with--with that twinkle in his eye and 'to die for' dimples! (I may be a little biased...)

Waiting for afternoon Kindergarten to start was the longest morning of Carson's life. We finally left and arrived 20 minutes early because he just could not wait any longer!!

Carson with his buddies, Noah, Ashton, & Mason

Waving Good-bye!

(Check out the girl in the ballerina tutu. Weird.)

When 2:30 came, I couldn't wait to hear all about Carson's first day. His comment was:

"It wasn't that fun."

Haha! Too true! Welcome to school Carson. You only have about 17 years left!

I have a little tradition to have an extra special after-school-snack on the first day of school. These are candy pencils made of rolos and hershey kisses. Kyler's comment was, "Are these candles?" I tried, OKAY!!

Here's to another year of school adventures!

A Berry Sweet Tradition

The Stevens family is incredibly close. I thought my family did a lot together until I married into this party lovin' family! What makes their bonds so tight? Probably many things... but I believe that one reason is because they have a lot of traditions. Games, music, Sunday dinners, holiday parties--these things keep them close. When we moved back to Eastern Idaho a few years ago, my children were delighted to finally participate in one of the oldest Stevens family traditions that happens every August: Picking Huckleberries! All year long, the Stevens family slowly (& carefully) depletes their precious harvest of berries by adding them to jams, syrups, desserts, and pancakes. In all honesty, I'm not much of a berry fan, but there is something so exciting about venturing up to the mountains to see how big the berries are and how many you'll get!!

Buckets-check. Bells to keep away bears-check. Bug spray-check.

And we're off!

Justin & Carson in the center of our top secret huckleberry spot!

Even Ashton got into the huckleberry action this year! His sweet cousin Kassidy helped him manuevre over plants and logs as tall as he was to find those "purple balls!" When he spotted one, he would gasp and exclaim to everyone in the forest that he had "found one!" His fingers were as purple as everyone else's!

Very proud of his stash!

He was getting quite a collection until Kassidy let him in on a secret... the purple balls were edible! After that, Ashton's bucket was pretty lonely. Ash popped those berries in his mouth faster than you could say, "Huckleberry Pie!"

Carson chose to collect pinecones rather than berries.

He always marches to his own beat!

All that bending over gets tiring pretty quick, so the boys took a berry break--enjoying Aunt Brooke's Ritz crackers. She thinks of everything!
Kenna's girlfriend Kamry came with us too! The girls ventured very high up that mountain, loved exploring the plants and bugs, and even had a memorable outdoor bathroom experience that I'll spare you from! I think they picked as many wildflowers as berries! Cute girls!

Friends and Cousins!

Summer Rewards

Summertime is a time to kick-back and relax a little... but if you're not careful, your kids will stay in their pajamas all day in front of the playstation. I really hate that! So in order to maintain a bit of a schedule in the summer, I offer my kids a little motivation through what I like to call: SUMMER REWARDS! My kids each have a chart of things to complete everyday. Easy things really... things like "make your bed," "brush your teeth," "practice the piano," "do a chore for mom,"... things I would make them do anyway! But with a chart and reward attached, I don't have to harp on them to get those things done. They do it on their own because they WANT to... which of course makes life happier for everybody! It was literally music to my ears when my kids would demand that I give them a chore!

If the kids completed their chart everyday, we got to do a reward as a family every Friday. We planned all the weekend rewards at the beginning of the summer so that the kids could look forward to them. Did I mention that every reward cost no money? Yep, it's possible to have fun on virtually no budget. It just requires a little more creativity! One of the kids' favorite rewards was a movie night. No, not a movie rental... a home made movie starring the Stevens family. It just goes to show that it doesn't take money to create hours of fun and lasting memories. Here are a few more rewards that I have photos of...

A Family Camp-out... On the Deck!

Our tent just BARELY fit on the deck. You had to walk down the bench to get inside. This reward fell on the first weekend of July, so the kids' outdoor slumber party was made even more exciting with fireworks going till midnight! This reward actually got stretched into 3 nights!

Kids Make Dinner Night

This was another favorite. Weeks in advance, the kids made a menu of their favorite foods. When the big night finally came, THEY got to make everything with mom only assisting from the sidelines when they were about to make a huge blunder or harm themselves!

Kids' Menu: Ramen noodles, orange tapioka jello salad, peanut blossom cookies, and fresca.

(They also wanted mozzarella sticks, but I forgot to pick those up at the store! Opps!)

Fun in the Sun

You can't have at least one summer reward that doesn't involve water and sunshine! We spent the afternoon at the free splash park in Rexburg.

Heading out to the park, I passed a garage sell. I don't usually stop at those, but something came over me and I stomped on the brakes. I totally scored when I found these 'like new' roller blades for $5.00! They made our afternoon at the park even funner!

Okay, Ashton was so hilarious that day! When he finally got over his timidness with the water, he was like a mad man--dunking his head in the water, crawling around on all fours... he had everyone at the park laughing at him.

Is it just me, or do you have an intense urge to squeeze his plump, chubby little body when you see this picture?

Lemonade & Cookie Stand

Growing up, my dad counciled me to ALWAYS stop at a lemonade stand. I think my neighbors feel the same way, because we had one very successful business day. The kids made a whopping $35 bucks. That's got to be some kind of record! At only .25 a cup, that's a lot of sales! This business venture occupied the kids the entire day! They planned everything, and learned a lot about business costs, making change, dealing with all of the neighbor kids who want to get in on your earnings, and the pure goodness and generosity of neighbors and friends!

Late Night With Friends

Who needs slumber parties when you can pack all of the same fun into a late night? The kids loved inviting over a special friend to party late with! To make it extra special, we created our own homemade Orange Leaf Store--ice cream toppings galore!

Bonneville County's Next Top Model

One of McKenna's summer highlights was participating in 4-H. With all of her neighborhood girlfriends, Kenna learned the basics of cooking and sewing. She even got to make a pair of fleece pajama pants. I was especially thankful that McKenna got this experience since I cannot teach her any sewing skills myself.

Her 4-H group (The 7 uppers) was pretty ecstatic when they found out that they could participate in a modeling competition to display their sewing creations. They each got to meet with a modeling instructor to learn how to walk, turn, and pose on a runway. McKenna loved every second of it! My boys even had their own Zoolander moment. We set up a mock runway made of tape in our family room, and the boys had a great time trying to out-nerd each other down the runway. Even Ashton had the walk down!

The morning before the competition, Kenna got a little extra help... sometimes it comes in very handy to be related to a former pageant queen! Yes, Aunt Brooke gave Kenna some great tips on how to properly turn and how to release her inner sparkle! Kenna could hardly wait to get out there and strut her stuff!

The competition was very small--just a handful of girls--but to Kenna, it was big stuff! When her moment came, I have to say, I was proud of my cute girl! She was comfortable up there, had fun--and it showed! She even winked at the judges as she exited!!

In the end, she won first place!

She's excited to participate in the State Fair modeling competition in September!

Time For A Change!

You know that potty training days are quickly approaching when your kid has to walk like this when they need a diaper change. Sorry if this grosses you out, but my kids begged me to put this on our blog!

(P.S. If you are receiving this blog post by email, you will probably not be able to view it. Go directly to our blog page (justin-jodi.blogspot.com) to watch all the saggy diaper fun!)

Luke Family Reunion 2011

One of the best parts of summers is reconnecting with family at reunions. Though the Luke reunion turned out to be a great success, planning the reunion felt a little like a season from Days of Our Lives... a bit of a drama fest! It was on, it was off, it was in Farmington, it was in Inkom, we were going to Lagoon, we weren't going to Lagoon, it was on, it was off... get the picture? However, we persevered and conquered--because we all know that nothing is more important than family relationships and rekindling those bonds.

Sadly, we missed day 1 of the reunion because Justin was working. We hear we missed out on a super fun day of boating. On Day 2, we met at the downtown Salt Lake City cemetery where all but three of the prophets are buried. Clark and Kari took the kids on a prophet scavenger hunt! When the kids found a headstone, they made a color rubbing of the prophet's name in their record book and got a treat. At each headstone, we listened to stories of faith and sang hymns. We were reminded of not only our family's heritage, but our church's heritage--and the sacrifices that were made to provide us with the joy of the Gospel in the latter days.

Carson, Jace, & Kate

Pretty sisters--Michelle, Shaylyn (niece), Suzy, & Kari

McKenna & Kate

Carson

Buddies Carter and Ashton hopping from headstone to headstone.

So cute!

Kyler, Chandler, & Carson at President McKay's grave.

McKenna, Grandma Luke, & Heather

The Luke Family at President Hinkley's headstone.

After our prophet scavenger hunt and a delicious lunch at Hires, we headed to a gymnasium for a few hours of pure fun. The kids ran, leaped, flipped, and bounced to their heart's content. By the time we left, the sweat was flowing freely--evidence that fun was had by all--both young and old!

Kyler and Heather in the foam pit!

(By the way, this pit was like quick sand! If I hadn't had help getting out, I would still be there right now!)

Kathy and Kimberly

Justin demonstrating his youthful gymnastic skills.

Poor Justin... he tried forever trying to pull himself up and over this bar.

So close... yet so far away!

Suzy bracing herself for the tire roll!

The entire Luke Family playing a parachute game.

SO FUN!

Ashton fell in love with fun cousin Tanner!

Pathetic sisters posing their sexiest look in front of the gymnasium fan.

Remember when I said I had a lot of those goof ball pictures a few post ago?

I wasn't kidding.

The day ended with a delicious dutch oven dinner at Eric's beautiful home.

The kids were introduced to a Luke cousin they had never bet before.

Genevieve--Eric's sweet, old dog!

A walk through Eric's yard was really a hiking adventure! The kids loved it!

While waiting for it to get dark for our final activity, the kids enjoyed basketball... INSIDE!

I just had to include this funny picture!

Stan loved standing at the entrance to Eric's indoor slide... because he felt so tall!

To close the reunion, Clark and Kari planned a surprise activity. In the darkness, families were grouped together and were told to simply "follow the light." Together we walked through the night--led only by small glow-in-the-dark bracelets hanging from the trees. Along the way, we were stopped and tempted to go an 'easier' or 'funner' way. Here is Carson being lured with candy by cousin Caden. The temptation was just too strong! We had to drag him away from the delicious huckleberry popcorn!

Kyler--bravely leading the way in the darkness.

On the right by the tree, you can see "The Light!"

The Iron Rod... almost there!!

After enduring our dark walk, we were greeted by Grandma & Grandpa Luke's open arms.

They were dressed all in white.

(Shortly after this picture, I got in a little trouble for wrecking the moment with my camera flash--but aren't you glad I did?)

Behind Grandpa and Grandma Luke, a large tree was glowing--covered with the glow-in-the-dark bracelets. We sat around the Tree of Life, sang, prayed, and listened to testimonies. We were counseled as a family to be strong, to remember our purpose, and hold strong to the Irod Rod--so that one day we would sit again together in the life to come. What a touching and memorable way to end our reunion.

I once heard that the definition of 'a blessing' is anything that brings you closer to God. I can say, without hesitation, that my family is a blessing. I'm so grateful to be part of such an amazing, faithful, and fun family.