Alivia Update

Alivia is in full fledged teenager mode.

She stays up late

She gets grouchy when she is hungry or tired

She still moans and arches her back when we ask her to do something that she doesn't want to do.

She loves to babysit

She loves 7th grade

She doesn't like math, but likes science

She does most of her homework on an app on the ipad (for reals that is just weird to me)

She still loves her animals

Currently we have 6 puppies that she is caring for along with the puppies mother

She is taking...

drama

American Sign Language

Drama

Aerobics

Math

Science

English

Career and Development (I think that has replaced home ec.)

Volleyball

She shares a locker with her friend Tegan...we call her Teeegy:)

She is the Beehive secretary in YW

She went to girls camp this year and loved it

They went to Yellowstone and stayed in someone cabin

She still bugs her brothers daily and sometimes plays with them nicely

She is sprouting a different style almost every week. It is hard to keep up as well with her sizes, she is now in a size 9 shoe....so a lot of my shoes go missing or get unwillingly adopted by her.

She loves to swim and especially visit her Whidden cousins. They are very important to her and says often how she wishes we lived closer to them

Alivia and Tegan the morning of girls camp

I would like to say that she likes to be around me....to be honest I am not sure. When it is just her and I, we can talk about anything and she has pretty good common sense. So when I ask her is she has a crush on someone she says no....... I know better than that:)

She loves decorating her room and is constantly looking for new ideas to keep herself busy.

I am pretty sure she likes camping and fishing, maybe not as much as Bauer or Kessler but she likes to Instagram and chat with her friends on her ipad.

She takes after her father and has a super sweet tooth. She loves candy and anything sweet.

She loves to watch series on Netflix and I am thankful that she is a good judge of what shows are good to watch and not so much.

Below is a picture of this summer we went boating and the kids were riding on the tube. The rope snapped and came back and gave her a nice scratch across her face. It was pretty scary.....she looked pretty gangster there for a while:)

Overall she is a busy tweenager. I know the next few years my patience meter is going to be working overtime:)

Ben update

Ben is doing well even though he turned 40, he is still alive and kicking. Still has a wicked metabolism can eat whatever he wants and his menu has not changed much. He will occaionaly listen to my protein and exercise speeches.

It probably falls on deaf ears but overall he is still active, he averages about 12miles a day at work. We got him a pedometer. He plays basketball Mon-Wed and Friday and sometime Saturday morning.

He has really busy days at the Sandy Super Target as well as really long days.

He struggles with a good work/life balance. He works so hard at work and we appreciate that. When he is home he is tired and likes to rest and recuperate. 

His leg is getting worse even though he won't agree with me. It gets more stiff and painful every year and swells up a lot faster than it used to. We have gone to a few specialists and they recommend at the least getting the screws out and seeing if that will relieve any discomfort.

But if you know Ben that is not an option, taking time off, he may go crazy??

For now he works so hard day in and day out. He has been at Target for 13 years now and is trying to run a hard to please 45 million dollar store.

 Ben and his summers are his respite, he takes everyother Friday off and so as his schedule goes now, he has every other Thurs-Sun off. He usually gets restless and is out poking around in the yard or the garage.

 I had to take this picture while we were flying up to Montana, I have officially turned into one of those parents who puts their kids in coach and the parents fly in first class. The kids were right behind us but I can't tell you how many time I have giggled at passengers who have done that. And now I was of them.

 Ben still has some 'cheapskate' in him, even though he has been married to me (the spender) for a while now. We were going to a movie and he kept his popcorn bucket from a movie he went to a few days before and took it back in for a refill:) I really didn't care, but the picture you can tell he feels a little bit guilty! :)

Overall he is doing well. We are trying to be good parents and hopefully teach our kids a few right things and hopefully have good memories growing up. Ben is a different dad now, he is such a good little kid/baby dad.....older kids has taken some adjustment. We both thrive with little ones around but as they get older it is a hard adjustment to see their changing personalities and attitudes....Ben is funny when we talk about older kid things...maturation programs, being careful on the internet, taking showers and not smelling like a wet dog, putting deodorant on, keeping the boys interested in scouts and wrestling with boys who are bigger and stronger now. 3 on 1 has been quite funny sometimes.

Flaming Gorge 2015

We were able to make our annual fishing trip to Flaming Gorge a huge lake on the Utah, Wyoming border.
It is fishing heaven! it is quite the treck, about a 4 hour drive with all the gear, 4 anxious kids a sleeping husband and 2 annoying dogs.

Ben doesn't like sitting by the fire, but the kids and I every night will stoke up a good fire and sit around and stay warm

Yeah a lovely burn on had on my arm while getting the boat ready for flaming gorge. It took a long time to heal.

Kids do really well shore fishing, when we go out on the boat we only have a limited amount of time until they get frustrated and bored. On the shore fishing is a lot more pleasant because they can come and go to the campsite as they please.

Alivia and I usually have the best talks when it is just her and I. I appreciate that she will talk to me and tell me things. She is a fire cracker, is sweet, fun, laughing and having a good time and then she can become tired, hungry and annoyed at everything. We love both versions!

In the picture she looks disgusted but she is the little adventurer in the family.

She loves to catch fish, lizards, frogs and take the dogs on adventures through the hills.

She loves to try and flush out the jack rabbits with her dogs. 

Two little boys depending on the day if they get along or not. In this picture, they were super annoyed that they had to share the lawn chair with each other even though it is a perfect size for two little boys.

Kessler usually has the best luck out of anyone in the family with his fishing skills. He catches the biggest fish and love to practice casting out into the water.

Its not a family vacay until a selfie is taken of Ben, that he gets annoyed about later:)

Bauer is the only one who will get up with Ben in the morning at 6am and go down fishing and sit there for hours until the rest of us lazy's decide to get up and go down there

Official camping attire, with my "W" whidden gang sign.

It was a bit chilly so I had to improvise with lots of layers.

Chancho the crazy dog, out of all the dogs that we have had I will say he is the friendliest, calmest and most people friendly dog. He is adorable.

Ben and everything he does for us while we are fishing. He carry's, baits, sets, reels and watches all while we play and go back and forth from camp having a good time.

We love Flaming Gorge. It is one of our favorite lakes.

Such a good time to spend 24/7 with the kids. Each one usually comes and sits on my lap and we snuggle and talk and usually snack:)

I tease Ben about being my creeper, and so it has become a joke now that I take a picture when he is behind me and act like I don't know him:)

Just because its sprinkling doesn't mean you can't sit by a dying fire,

Its so nice to sit in the trailer, leave the door open and let the air flow through. I love camping!

We went off roading and came across this little bay, i think it is on the Wyoming side of Flaming gorge. It was so beautiful, calm and the water was so clear. We had a really good time spending the afternoon sitting in complete silence and just fishing off the ledges and shores.

Behind us I didn't take any pictures but it a huge mountain with lots of ledges and cliffs and the kids love to climb through there flush out the jack rabbits and take the dogs on lots of high adventures.

A nice action shot of Ben catching his own fish. Usually we have a "netter" but he got that fish out all by himself.

I thought for a few minutes about cliff jumping but decided against it. The water was still preeeety chilly, it just wasn't hot enough to jump in and not be able to warm back up as much as I'd want.

We went down to the Green River which feeds off of Flaming Gorge. It is so beautiful. We had a great time, we didn't have all the proper fishing gear but tried with some of our lures and spinners.

We have a tradition while we are on a family vacation that we always see a butterfly, fly by and we call it our vacation butterfly. It happens everytime we go somewhere, so much too the point Ben has started to believe how crazy it is that we will always see one. Liv found this butterfly on a rock and wasn't doing very well, they tried to dry it off and nurse it back to a limited health. They wanted to take it back to camp but I didn't want the "vacation butterfly" to die. So she left it but some other flying creatures on a leaf.

Took a family selfie in a mirror at the end of the road.

Some of our off roading rides, running into heards of cows. I still love cows, I don't know why, they seem like such gentle creatures.

Lots of one on one time with mom, I try and soak it all up as much as possible.

This short haircut has it challenges. I mainly tame it with a hat, I have quite a collection now. But when there is no hat present, my hair is very unpredictable.

So thankful we could go on our annual trip this year. We had a lot planned this summer and glad we found the time and money to make it out and have a good time.