Puppy

Max is still a hit. He loved hiding in our flowers until he destroyed them. The kids all love him, though Jake is still mostly afraid of him. He giggles as he runs away from him and jumps on something too high for Max to get up on, but he still runs away.

Nauvoo

We've been trying to get to Nauvoo all summer for our first whole family camp out, but kept having bad weather delay us. So the week after we got our puppy Max and I broke my toe, Jake and I sent Dad with the older three to enjoy the weekend in spite of us not being there. Maybe next summer we'll all make it!

They loved the temple and the Spirit there. 

And all the houses and sites are always fun.

Their one match fire!

They stopped at Carthage on the way home and had a great time!

Broken Toe

Sunday morning at 5am, two days after we got our puppy, I woke up to go to the bathroom and hit my toe on the wall. It felt a little weird, so I looked down and saw this. Yikes! I don't remember deciding that lying on floor would be a good idea, but suddenly I was, with my limbs all feeling very heavy. I needed to make my way upstairs to tell Jason, so got up to do so and found myself on the floor again. I think I kind of passed out a couple of times, but I didn't even really realize it until I thought about it later! I must have been in shock, which is so weird because it didn't even hurt that bad. Anyway, I waited a bit longer and was able to make it to tell Jason. 

Long story short (including a trip to one immediate care place in the pouring rain that was closed, a nap, another time almost passing out, another nap, and another immediate care place,) I found out it was fractured. I have to buddy tape it to the toe next to it and wear a boot for 4-6 weeks. It never hurt too badly so it's just been annoying mostly. My first broken bone!

Hide and Seek

When you play hide and seek with Jake he either hides in the same place every time or hides like this. Both make me laugh.

Labor Day

On Labor Day our Stake always has a fun breakfast at a member's farm. The kids love the cotton candy and snow cones, and the tractor-pulled wagon ride. Fun tradition!

Max

Ali finally got her wish: we got a dog. Meet Max. He was born on July 3rd and joined our family on September 13th. He is a rescue dog whom they think is a Chweenie (a Chihuahua and Dachshund mix) but we see Beagle in there too. He came to us nighttime crate trained and somewhat potty trained, and it is so nice to have such a good foundation to build on. He has two speeds:sleeping or crazy puppy energy. He loves to be outside (but is showing a love of digging that I'm not fond of), playing tug-of-war and is pretty cute.    

Baseball

Jason loves tossing the football or pitching a baseball or playing basketball with the kids. They are so lucky to have him for a dad!

Chinese Pen Pal

Ali was super excited to get a letter all the way from China, from a girl her age that Grandma tutored while she was there. It will be fun to see if these two can keep up a correspondence!

Funny Brothers

Sometimes brothers are so funny!