Back to school

Dylan was so excited to go to Kindergarten. I had to kiss her goodbye and send her in, because we weren't allowed inside the gates. Lame. When the day actually came, she was really nervous. She came home the first day and said,"School was good, but I didn't learn how to read." I guess she had big expectations for the first day :) Brooklyn walks her to class now in the mornings, and she goes in like a pro. She is still so small. Can't believe she is old enough to be in Kindergarten.

Lincoln is in 4th grade now. He is really liking school, but not the new schedule. School is an hour earlier this year. He is not a morning person. He wakes up at about 6:45am. Gets to school by 7:50. Right after school, he has about 4 hours of baseball. Homework. Shower. Bed. Repeat the next day. He is working so hard lately, and feels horribly guilty that he doesn't have time to play with his friends. We are not forcing this on him, though. He would rather be playing baseball. He is doing what he wants to do. But, he sacrifices a lot for it.

He is not on the Stealth anymore. Most of his team moved over to the Venom, and he has a former MLB player as his new coach. This guy played for the Mets (Lincoln's favorite team). But, this coach wants to practice all the time. This team is basically his job, so Lincoln gets a lot of practice. He is getting sooooo good, too. I have seen a difference in just a short time. We are excited for the change.

Brooklyn is in 2nd grade. She has lots of friends in her class at school, so she loves it. We also love her teacher. Blake and Lincoln both had this teacher, and she is great. Brooklyn is excited to go to school everyday. She keeps begging me to sign her up for cheerleading. Ugh. I keep avoiding it. Honestly, I would rather her do ANYTHING, but cheer. She is the child that worries me the most. She is already into hair, and clothes, and boys. I'm scared for when she is a teen-ager.
Ah. Middle School. Taylor is in 7th and Blake is in 6th. Both are doing great in all their accelerated classes. Blake has been really on top of her assignments and homework, and is really interested in getting involved in Student Council during the next few years. Taylor is in National Junior Honor Society, and is interested in stacking her resume so she can get into BYU Provo. I am so proud of these girls. They are so amazing! Sometimes I'm shocked that I borned them :) They have somehow avoided all the Middle School drama, too. Hopefully, they will lay low and glide right into High School without too much drama.

AS for me and Levi. He is barely waking up by the time Dylan gets home from school. She gets out at 10:30. Levi is a sleeper. He loves his bed. So, mornings are a nice quiet time for me. At least for now. Next month we will have a new baby...

Happenings

I have no pictures for ya. Sorry. I don't have the patience to sit and upload and edit at the computer. Besides, my feet will start to swell up and then Taylor will make fun of me and say, "OH! My feet feel like bricks!" Apparently, I say that a lot.

I am almost 32 weeks pregnant. Baby girl looks great. She is a little over 3 lbs right now. So, we are happy. I am still in denial, and am nowhere close to nesting. I have a lot of little baby girls clothes that need to be washed and organized. But, that means organzing a couple of closets...and I'm not in the mood. We can't decide on a name.

I have been very tired this time around. I think it has something to do with having 6 kids. I was telling Jim that my "energy spurt" only lasted about 3 weeks this time. I keep apologizing to my family for being a lazy pregnant lady, but really, they don't seem to mind. They have been super helpful and everybody pitches in and helps out. I think my own guilt gets to me. Not being able to do what I normally do. But, seriously, I don't think my sweet little family even cares if I just lay around all the time. They are great :)

I am moving pretty slow. Levi even peed on the carpet upstairs today because I wasn't fast enough getting his diaper. It was actually kind of funny. I think he was as surprised as I was.

The kids are loving school. We are back in our routine. They all love their teachers and classes. The best thing about this year is that Lincoln has a weekly homework packet instead of daily homework. It works out so nice with baseball. On the nights he doesn't have baseball he can just bust it and get his whole packet done. Such a stress off of him.

I have some amazing friends that are helping bring Dylan home everyday from Kindergarten. I am so thankful to have them.

Here is a picture of my cute sister and her hubby. They are having a baby boy in less than 4 weeks. I couldn't be more excited for them!

Philmont Scout Camp

Warning: This is a really long post...

This is what my family looks like after a week of camping.

We were lucky enough to get to go to Philmont this summer. It's a little Scout Camp in New Mexico. It's scout training for Stake Presidents and Stake Young Men's Presidents. Stake YM Presidents have to be invited by their Stake President to attend, and we were lucky enough to be invited by President Moody and his family. While the men go to leadership training all day, the wives and kids can play.

Each of the kids were divided into age groups and had their own counselors. They had a huge building for nursey age kids, too, so I was able hand off Levi for several hours every day. The kids never EVER wanted to leave their groups. They had so much fun and made so many new friends. After dinner, the kids would run off with their friends, and we didn't see them until lights out at 10pm.

On the grounds there is a huge villa which used to be used as a summer home. Now, it's a museum and you can do tours, but there is a huge villa lawn that the kids would play on for hours. They would play frisbee, football, baseball, or just lay on a blanket and hang out. There were deer roaming free on the lawn, too.

During the day, the kids did their thing, and at night there were skits, firesides, parades, and other activities. The kids cried when we left. They said it was better than Disneyland. I think a lot of it was the Spirit they felt there all week. It truly was a little heaven on earth.

So, I had only heard of Philmont from Pres. Moody and Pres. Lytle, and they always said that if we had the opportunity to go, we needed to go. When we arrived, we were greeted by Sis. Wixom, the General Primary President, and President Gibson of the General YM Presidency. The entire week at Philmont was planned and run by the General Primary Presidency, and General YM Presidency. Those were our speakers at church on Sunday, they were the speakers at firesides, classes, and trainings. It was a seriously amazing experience.

Taylor had the opportunity to have her testimony meeting and a Q&A that was filmed with President Beck. She bore her testimony and asked him questions. She also had a fireside with President Beck and his wife. The week after she had these experiences, she had her first year at Girl's Camp. I asked her how Girl's Camp was, and she said it was OK. Not like Philmont, though. Sad that her first year at camp had to follow this Philmont experience.

I was able to have classes from the General Leadership during the day with the other wives. In those classes, they basically just told us how amazing and wonderful we are, and thanked us all for having so many children and supporting our husbands.

Some other things we did were:

Hiking- the kids did some 7-8 milers. Even Brooklyn.
Crafts- there was a huge handicraft building with every craft you could possibly think of.
Fishing- we found a little reservoir, but didn't catch anything.
Horseback riding- they have a stable on the camp grounds. Even Levi rode a pony.

We ate every meal as a family in the mess hall. I didn't have to cook at all. It was like a huge cafeteria, and we would just go through the line. Sometimes the food was good, sometimes not.

Here are some pictures, in no particular order...

Taylor is inside the orange blanket. This was part of her skit.

This is Blake doing her part in the skit. I can't believe how much my girls loved doing their skits. I am not a skit person. That was always my least favorite part of camp, but my girls were so excited for it.

Dylan just finished her skit. She was VERY proud of herself.

Levi had the best seat in the house.

Levi was always trying to run off, and it was pretty exhausting trying to catch him all the time.

Dylan played in the mud every second she could. If you know her, you know that playing in the dirt is her most favorite thing EVER.

She offered President Moody a mud pie. He was a very good sport, and he made her day by playing along.

These were the buses that took the kids to their hikes. The kids hiked A LOT. They got patches for all the hikes they went on. They earned so many patches. I learned that Scouting is ALL about the patches. I sewed Taylor's on her camp sweatshirt, so she had a ton of patches for her first year at Girl's Camp.

Lincoln waiting for his bus to go on his hike. Hiking was his worst thing about Philmont. He hated it. It was really hot.

This is his hike buddy. It's the twins from his baseball team (two of his best friends) cousin. It's a small world.

Levi and Brooklyn having a conversation on Sunday after church.

Brooklyn is doing her counselor's hair, waiting for her bus to the hike.

Taylor and Blake were in the same group. They were waiting for their 8 mile hike. I was so glad I packed the Camelbacks.


Breakfast

This was our home for the week. Our family had 3 of these tents right next to eachother. Levi and the girls were hanging out during flag ceremony in the morning.

Lincoln is on the bottom, third from the left. Notice President Beck and Sister Wixom standing in the back. Lincoln had the opportunity to be involved in the flag ceremony on Wednesday. He was one of the lucky kids to raise the American Flag. They made us sign a media waver, because they took lots of pictures for the Ensign and took some film footage. Maybe we will see him in the Ensign or on LDS.org sometime soon :) Either way, what an amazing experience for him, and Jim was a proud dad watching his kid raise the American Flag in his Scout Uniform at Philmont in front of the General YM President. Once in a lifetime experience, no doubt.

So, that was our week at Philmont. I don't know if we will ever get to go again. Only if Jim is a Stake President someday, I guess. We were really grateful for the chance to go. It was a fun family vacation, and Spiritual experience for all of us. Something we will never forget.