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.