1st Crop

Derrick and the lizards

KayDee

Me

Samantha helping her dad

Kevin cleaning the shop

Kevin started working for his family farm this June and these are pictures from first crop. I let the kids loose with the camera and ended up with over 50 pictures and decided to post just one of everyone.
The kids enjoyed spending time in the tractor with their dad. They came back with their very own hay cube. Out of all the kids KayDee seemed to enjoy herself to the fullest, asking if she could drive and keeping track of numbers on the wagons and how many tires. The other two heard about it and had more fun the next rounds. I love that the kids get to spend more time with their dad one on one.

The Dogs: Daisy and Sitka

Doing dishes

Fisher Reunion

Samantha and Derrick jumping off the diving board. It is quite an accomplishment.

We went to the Fisher Reunion, which is my mom's side, and had a great time swimming and eating and visiting. I made Bon Bon's for the auction dessert and they were so WONDERFUL that my Aunt Jean called for the recipe!

KayDee is 5

 KayDee is 5 and she is so excited about it! She has been looking forward to this age since she has wanted to go to school like her older brother and sister. Now she can go to kindergarten!
She has been going to preschool and doing an online preschool called UPSTART which has helped her with the first stages of reading. She knows all her letters and sounds and can sound out words. She has memorized words like: the, and, me, my and several others. She can read the Dick and Jane books by herself!

She loves to color and write notes to family. She loves to draw princesses. KayDee is a lot more brave riding bikes now and has gained confidence with swimming lessons. She loves her dog Daisy and has taken care of a spot in the garden that she planted, which includes zucchini and cucumber. She loves ladybugs and catches toads. She can shower by herself too!
KayDee loves to say prayers and has been very interested in the resurrection. She wants to make sure that it will be okay when we die.

 We invited friends from church, school, and music class to her birthday party. Nearly all showed up and they had a fantastic time in that tiny pool.

We set up the pool and she received pool toys to share while her friends were there. The water twister pad was a hit as well.
Happy Birthday KayDee!

Derrick's 1st Grade Program

 Derrick with the rest of the 1st grade presented Aesop's Fables. They all did a great job with their parts and singing. Derrick memorized and said his part so well.

 They sang and gave speaking parts for several fables. Derrick's part was for the Dog and the Bone.

Petro Glyphs

 We went on another hike to see these petroglyphs.

 There are numerous rocks with random amounts of carvings.

 This ledge is where the petro glyphs are looking over the river.

 I think some of these look like feet or hands. There are quite a few animals too, so they're probably tracks.

 Kevin found this on our way out while he was looking for a water bottle. We signed it and put it back. We still need to go online to report that we found it. It was wedged in some rocks, hidden.

This hike was great since Kevin had the day off and could come with us. The older kids were in school so we took KayDee. Two ladies from the ward went with us too!

Scrabble

Kevin and I played Scrabble the other night and we used every tile! Kevin made me take a picture.

Uncle Roger and Aunt Carolyn

Visitors! My Uncle Roger and Aunt Carolyn have stopped by our home so many times and we have not been home. Finally this time we were there and they came! We had fun visiting and learning of their plans to move to our area.

Buster

This is Buster. He was brought down from the farm to help eat our overgrown pasture. He is a really great horse and the kids love to ride him. Samantha and Derrick can catch him and wait for Kevin to saddle him. And they both can climb on by themselves. We really think it is special to have a horse in our backyard!

Silly Sleeping Dog

3 Musicans

All three kids did Let's Play Music this year. Samantha and Derrick finished and KayDee started. Next year Samantha and Derrick will take private piano lessons from me (we'll see how that goes). KayDee will continue the program and will start playing the piano as part of the second year. I am so grateful for this opportunity for my children to learn music and make it a part of them. It is something they can use throughout their life. It is something that is important to me and I'm glad I can pass that on to them.

Samantha's Recital

 Samantha has completed 3 years of Let's Play Music and played a piece she composed for the recital too.

 Miss Laura congratulating and presenting her with her trophy for completing the Let's Play Music program.

 

She played her piece memorized and did a fantastic job. Well done Samantha!

Derrick's Recital

 Derrick did such a good job with his recital. He has been in Let's Play Music for 3 years and played a piece that he composed for the recital. He had to introduce himself and his song.

 His bow after was very sophisticated.

 Miss Laura congratulating and presenting his trophy for completing the Let's Play Music program.

He told us he could be famous now since he is a composer!

KayDee's 1st Recital

 KayDee had her recital after taking a full year of music class of Let's Play Music. She got to learn how to play the bells, sing and recognize 3 basic cords among other foundational music skills.

 This is her during the puppet show. She has loved these since the older kids were in the class when she was two.

 Receiving her award from Miss Laura, her teacher.

Good job KayDee!

Drawing

Kevin took a quick picture of me drawing. I am illustrating a book for my sister Diane. I've never done it before and it is hard to find time to do it. There are 41 pictures for the first book and I've only made it through the first couple chapters! It is fun to share in something like this with my sister. The stories are really good too. I'll keep drawing!

Hiking to the Bowl

 Yes, I hike with old people from my ward. They are the people that are retired, and I can do stuff with them during the day and with KayDee too! I love it and they are such great people!

 We hiked to the bowl and KayDee said that these puddles looked like tracks which reminded one person that they were actually dinosaur tracks. So the whole way down we saw several, these are the most defined. Pretty cool and great observation little 4 year old!

 KayDee was fun to take pictures of. I didn't even bring my camera but those grandparents couldn't help themselves.

Someone got her started on carens that mark the trails (the rock stacks, not sure how to spell). After that we had to stop every 5 feet to allow another one to be made... We did make it through the hike-eventually!
KayDee and I have gone on some of these Monday hikes and it has really been fun to do something with other people. I tend not to go since I don't think it is safe for me to hike by myself with a young child. I am grateful for the opportunity and the friends that go with us!

Lizard

Derrick caught a lizard at our house. We believe it lives under our shed because we see it around all the time. I make Derrick let them go after he catches them and I've seen Daisy chasing it from time to time. This lizard is actually pretty big. The other ones are quite a bit smaller. Good catch Derrick!

Owen's Loop

 The kids had Monday off from school and so I took them all on the next hike. We went on Owens Loop in St. George and we hiked to "The Lamb of God" with "God's Hands". The history on it is: When the pioneers settled St. George the children went hiking around and found Indian burial sites and took bones and skulls home. The bones were just laid in crevasses in the rock like the one the kids are in above. And then they were covered by more rocks to keep animals out.

 I did expect it to be bigger but it really is interesting.

 They took the bones out and buried them somewhere else and dedicated the site and the pioneers put a petro glyph of a lamb and hands to show respect.

It was a good hike and it was interesting to hear the story behind what happened and why the pioneers made a petro glyph.

Old Toys

Here's our boys playing with some pretty old toys. These are Kevin's old toys that are in mint condition. He brought home a bunch from his parents house a while ago and the kids helped wash them off and then Kevin separated them. Some the kids can just play with but others they have to ask. Derrick asks to play with this set quite often. It is an airplane that holds mini tanks, cars, airplanes, etc. It really is cool. Kevin has a hard time sharing sometimes but he enjoyed showing Derrick (and the girls) these and teaching them how to take good care of them.