More camping and fun!

In July the Price family came to visit and we were so excited to have the come! Last year we had a few families move away and they were one of the. Most of our kids are the same age and got along great! We miss having them around the corner but had a great time visiting with them!

Towards the end of July we went camping(I'm beginning to see a pattern here-Dave would be proud :) with the Sell family and had a blast! It even included a tea party! The girls loved it! Elle was going to miss a princess birthday party so we had a party up there. Next time we go camping we'll have to see if the girls ask if we're having a tea party again!
We had a great time quading!

We spent a day at the lake fishing and relaxing.

The kids had fun catching crawdads.

We had such a fun time with the Sells! Thanks guys for going!

Fourth of July

We had a great fourth of July. It has become our tradition to go up and celebrate the fourth with Dave's brother and we love it!! This year was a little bitter sweet, because Dave's mom's side of the family had their reunion over Fourth of July weekend and she wasn't going to be there. She was at the last one 2 years ago and my father in law really wanted to be there this year. They hold the reunion and Dave's grand uncles place in Show Low. It is one of the funnest places ever. There is a pond(it's not what I call a pond-it's the size of a football field) that you can go fishing in, canoes and kayaks to use, horses to ride, swings-even one that takes you out over the pond, and so much more. There is also a creek that runs through the property and the kids loved catching tad poles and crawdads. A kids paradise. My kids were never bored.

Another thing that made this reunion a little different was that 2 years ago Dave's grandad volunteered to do the next reunion. Which involves feeding about 200-300 people dinner and breakfast. So Dave and I had the opportunity to help out-it felt good to help and it gave us an opportunity to get to know his family better. We were down in the kitchen a lot so I have the thank my amazing sisters in law Anna and Melanie for watching my kids. And the rest of Dave's family for helping with all of the food and serving. It really was so fun and Dave has such a fun family!
The kids playing on the dock with Uncle Stephen

Having fun with the cousins!
Aunty Melanie doing all of the hard work.

After the reunion we packed up and headed out to Taylor for the rodeo!

The whole crew!
Jason and his family, Julie and her friend, Grandpa B, our family, Uncle Stephen, Aunty Amy, and Kylie.

We loved the fireworks. I got a fun new camera a while back and so the shutter would stay open for a bit. It made our firework pictures turn out fun!

As soon as we got back from Taylor Kawika left the next morning for Scout camp. He was gone for a week! Dave has always been on the camp outs with Kawika and this was the first time he would be without him for most of the time. I knew he was in good hands, I was just sad to let him go for that long! But he survived and had a blast!

More Summer Fun!

I know, I know here we go again. Another update from the Brubaker clan who can never keep up(namely the mom) :). For Father's Day this year Dave wanted to go camping. So a camping we went. And I think this picture captured the essence of the fun we had. Don't those faces look like pure joy!? I love it. I think Kalei had just pitched the ball square between Kalani's eyes.

The name of the game this trip was total relaxation, good food and lots family fun!!
See I told you relaxation was in the plan. Hence the reason for all the pictures with kids in hammock. I think I got to use them once because there were always children in them. :)

We had fun playing horseshoes. Kawika beat his poor mom in this game!!

The girls had fun picking flowers.

We went and had a marshmallow war! It was great fun!

This was Kalei's face after she got me. She looks like she's enjoying getting her mom a little too much! :)

We had a fabulous time just getting away and playing!

Family Home Evening

So I just have to document this. Last night Kaili and Kalei taught Family Home Evening. As they began to prepare I asked if I could help and was told "No, we can do it on our own." So I went in the kitchen to finish up dinner and soon heard some arguing coming from the computer. I went to check it out and Kalei was crying. I told the kids they needed to move away from the computer but Kalei said "But I'm doing Family Home Evening." I looked on the screen and she had opened up Microsoft word and was typing up her lesson plan. It looked something like this:

fldvhjlkarenjtaolk;uhalksdtnaldgkjsadlfkgjarlkjadfl;gjadflktajlrgkadlfafthywdnvbs,,jhrtlkhflakjgl
akjfdglka;ghjalkfjnlksafjlkadjflgkafjglajflsfjhalfjgoihjdlfhjlakdfjeloiyruodafihjaly

You get the idea. :) I couldn't help but laugh. Then I said "Kalei, why don't you let Kaili tell you what letters to type." Kaili helped her type a few words and just before FHE she said "Mom we need to print it out!" So I did.
We sat down on the couch for FHE and the girls welcomed us and the opening hymn and prayer were taken care of. Then the girls had us help them with a little puzzle in the Friend. The letters spelled TEMPLE. Okay, so tonight they are going to teach us about temples. Then we sat down and Kaili asked us to read a word she had written so big that it had to be on 2 pages. It read SAB one page and then on the back it read BATH. Okay so now we're learning about the Sabbath day(which is actually what she originally told me they were going to teach about). So I prompted Kaili to ask how we can keep the Sabbath day holy. So we began to discuss the things we should and shouldn't do, and why we need to make Sunday special(with a lot of prodding from me). After our discussion Kalei said "Mom, you talked a lot tonight without raising your hand!" Ooops! ;) Then they invited us to come to the table and draw pictures. I said "What are we supposed to draw?" "Oh anything you want." was the reply. "Well how bout we draw pictures of things we can do on the Sabbath?" "Okay" Then Kaili said "I'm going to read you a couple of stories while you draw." I can't recall what they were about but I don't think they were about keeping the Sabbath day holy. :)
It was a cute lesson and the girls loved being in charge. What a blessing Family Home Evening is!

Halloween

We hope everyone had a great Halloween!! Halloween was a little different this year, at first I was a little worried but it turned out great. Our ward did not have the traditional Trunk or treat but we were encouraged be good neighbors. I was a little disappointed at first because I enjoyed the social part of being able to hang out with friends while my kids enjoyed running around with their friends. But like I said it turned out to be fun. Okay and here is a lame side note-I forgot to take a picture of Kawika before he ran off with his friends. Slacker mom! Here is Kalani-I think he makes a handsome pirate!

Kaili was a Southern Belle(thanks Mindy). She loved being dressed and was one cute little Southern Belle!

Kalei was a ballerina kitty. This girl changed her mind so many times it was driving my crazy! But I must say she is one cute kitty!

So in place of the Trunk or Treat we decided to decorate our yard and we brought the fire pit out in the front yard. We let people makes smores and have hot chocolate and handed out candy. It was a lot of fun. I took the girls around to a few neighbors houses while Dave stayed to pass out candy. After a couple of streets they were worn out :) That was fine with me! :) And the boys went Trick or Treating with their friend Kyle and spend the night going back and forth between each others houses.

Dave stirring our brew of root beer.

Are we rednecks or fobs? Maybe a little bit of both

Red necks and fobs are one in the same. For those of you who don't know, fob stands for fresh off the boat. Basically, it's a Polynesian red neck. I think it was in the beginning of June Dave took the boys and a friend out to Saguaro Lake in our little 14 ft aluminum fishing boat along with the surfboard and towed the kids around the lake! They had so much fun! So later that month he took the rest of the family out to the lake. It took quite a bit to convince me to go. Some say it was pride or it could be the fact that I don't like being a fob/redneck on purpose. Okay, okay it was pride.

Anyway we took our little boat out with all 6 of us and a long 9 ft surfboard. So we putt...putt...putt our way out to the other side of the lake. Here is Kaili with our orange flag that we have to raise every time someone falls in the water. Kalani was the first one to go. He was pretty nervous to try and stand, but he did a great job.

Kalei looking cute as always

Unfortunately after Kalani had his ride on the board the motor started acting up. So that ended the towing session :( So we dropped the anchor and everyone jumped in.

We had some ducks come by and Kalani decided it would be fun to swim with them.

Is the water cold!!??

Kalani striking a pose-he's one buff dude :)

Kawika trying to stay up

What is that you say? Why weren't you and Kalei in any of the pictures of everyone swimming. Well that would be for a couple of reasons. First, Kalei is a smart girl-she got in for a whole 2 minutes and realized that the water is just WAY too cold(she must have her mom's blood) to enjoy. Second, I don't swim in lakes, call me prissy-hey, I grew up in Hawaii-what do you expect! I must admit I have been in lake water a couple of times and that was more than enough for me. It is cold, stinky, stagnant water and when you walk in it mud squishes through your toes-yuck! All in all we had a great time -just as long as I don't have to get in the water!

A Day at the Lake

Back in May we decided to go to the lake one Saturday and had a blast! We went up north and the weather was absolutely perfect!! We went fishing and took along a picnic and just loved it.

In our family we have the "fishing hat". Each time we go fishing whoever catches the biggest or the most fish gets to wear the fishing hat till the next time we go fishing. Kalani won the fishing hat for this trip. He caught three. Every time he threw his line in he'd snag a fish in less than a minute. The fish were biting so much Dave spent the whole time re baiting hooks and never got a chance to get his pole in.

Kalei caught her first fish, which she was so excited about until we tried to get her to hold it for a picture! :)

Kawika caught a good one!

Kaili was brave enough to hold her catch! :)

The catches of the day!

Kaili has the right idea.

We went to the other side of the lake and had a picnic. While I was making lunch this is what Kawika found.

There are 2 bald eagles living at this lake and there were scientist there watching this nest. We watched one of them circle the lake and dive for a fish but it missed.

When we got home Dave had to run off to something so Kawika got the job of cleaning the fish. It was his first time can you tell how excited he was to do it. :)

We really did have a great time at the lake. We just need to not wait so long to do it again!!

Now it's time to catch up

Dave and I celebrated our 13th year of being married at the end of April! I am so blessed to have him. He continues to amaze me each day! He is my best friend and inspires me to be better. Last year with it being 12 years he gave me a bunch of things in dozens-it was really cute! This year he said he was frustrated because he could not figure out what to do for 13. The picture above is what he came up with. It was a bouquet of 13 roses with the 13th high above the others. He said that was because this year would be our best despite it being an unlucky number. :) So far so good!

Kaili cooked up a meal to help us celebrate. Complete with plates that said "Happy Anavirsre", a bell pepper and a pickle! She is so cute!

Mothers Day I finally joined the 21st century and got an Ipod-hence my "i-cake". It was a great day!!

We had fun with an impromptu slip and slide session after family home evening one night.

Kalani took 3rd place in the 3rd Grade Spelling Bee. Way to go dude!

Kawika took 2nd place in his class at the Science Fair. He was trying to find out whether a metal or wooden bat hit a baseball farther. Any boys dream-to have to play baseball as part of their homework. :) He did a great job!

The boys finished out the baseball year coming in 2nd place for their division. My boys loved it and made some great friends!