Autumn's Last Day of Preschool Swim Party

On Autumn's final day of preschool the parents were invited to come back at 10am and enjoy Miss Bekky's the pool. We all brought goodies to share and her teacher provided a meat platter and drinks for us. We where able to swim, eat, visit, play, and say our final goodbyes. It was a lot of fun, but sad that we won't be seeing each other as much as we used to. The girls had a great time. Autumn is going to miss coming preschool.

Autumn's Preschool Graduation

We can't believe that Autumn has graduated from preschool already. Where has the time gone? She was able to spend this special occasion with her Grandma Smith, Aunt Rachel, and cousins Logan and Kelsie. She was so excited to share this big day with them. We arrived at Miss Bekky's home at 4pm. She had perpared a presentaion for us. Each child had to say a memorized parts and sing songs telling us what they did each day and through the school year. Autumn's line was the first said. She said "We would like to welcome you to our end of the year graduation celebration!" She did a fantasitc job on it. After their presentation each child told us what their favorite thing about preschool was. Autumn said she likes cooking time and science time. Miss Bekky then handed out their graduation certificate and told us a little about how much she enjoyed each of the kids. It was very touching and I know that my Autumn was taught by teachers that loved her and the other kids very much. Autumn has had a wonderful year in preschool. It has been very good for her. She has loved ever minute of it. She told me she will miss her preschool, but is ready to go to Ashlyn's school and be a Kindergartner. We have seen Autumn grow and mature. We are so proud of her and are excited for her to be heading to Kindergarten.

Day 4 Visiting Columbia on Memorial Day

We said goodbye to Pinecrest Lake today. The girls had a great time getting in some last minuet play time before we headed for home. Aubrey got dressed all by herself and used her mommies socks instead of hers.On our way back home we stopped in Sonora to show the girls where Noah grew up for a few years when he was little. We even went by his old house that still has a bridge that his father built years ago. Then we headed over to Columbia State Historic Park. We got there just in time for lunch. We enjoyed our little picnic we had packed and then headed over to see this old mining town. We walked over to one of the areas where the mined for gold. Noah and I learned that since water was in short supply they used Hydraulic mining to shoot water at high pressure, where miners blasted loose the gold and washed it out. That is why there are lots of smooth rocks with grooves and holes in them. They are fun for the kids to climb on too. We also got to see the type of tools they used for mining. As we walked through the old town we were able to go into different buildings that showed us a little of what type of things they had in the 1850s. We saw the bank, the courthouse, various food stores, dentist office, drug store, the jail house, fire house, one of the original houses in town, and the Chinese house. We stopped by the yummy candy store on our way out. Where the girls got their choice of a special treat.We even got to check out some old wagons they used around town. We got to go into a small museum with artifacts, old pictures, and a room in the back for the kids to explore. They had a short video playing on the history of the town and an area for the children to explore and play.My girls lhad a blast in the dress-up corner. They loved seeing how they might have looked back in the 1850s. Our last stop was at the Fallon House Ice Cream Parlor. We treated ourselves to a couple of hot fudge sundaes. What a fun time we had with our girls learning more about our states history. The girls loved it too. Autumn can't wait to come back to the "rich town" (where all the Gold is) as she so eloquently called it.

Day 3 Hiking around Pinecrest Lake

With this day being Sunday we decided to take a leisurely 4 mile hike around Pinecrest Lake. This was a fairly easy to moderate hike and everyone was excited to hike except Autumn. She was upset off and on for the 1st half of the hike. On the first half of the hike we spied the lake of course, birds, a lizard, many wild flowers, and we walked across the Strawberry Dam.Once we got to the half way mark we took a lunch break by the inlet. The river flowing into the lake was flowing pretty high because of the snow run off.
After lunch Aubrey decided she was tired of being in the backpack and wanted to hike too. Noah was happy about that and we helped her along the trail.She did great and kept Autumn happy and moving along. They found some sticks and started zapping each other. Then the sticks became microphones. Our girls sang the rest of the hike. It was a great hike and we were able to see all the different things around the lake. Once back we had the afternoon to play in the lake. At a warm temperature of 55 degrees I am surprised my family even touched the water let alone jumped in it. But they had a good time and enjoyed playing in the sand too.

Day 2 Enjoying Kennedy Meadow

After talking to some of the locals here we found out that their might be horseback riding available at a place called Kennedy Meadows. So we decided to go and drive up to Kennedy Meadows in search of horses to ride. It took us about 30 min. to get there, but was a very scenic drive. Kennedy Meadows itself is beautiful. We parked in front of this lush green meadow where I showed the girls fresh mint plants growing. The river was flowing up ahead with people fishing up and down it. We turned around to see the main building and a horse stable around back with lots of horses saddled up and ready for adventure. Noah walked over to the horse men to find out how it all worked. They told us that kids must be 6yrs. old to ride by themselves, but they could ride on a lead horse. The lead horse can be walked all over the trails and meadow. Aubrey was pretty scared of the those big horses up close, so Noah and I decided that we could put Ashlyn and Autumn on lead horses and Aubrey could ride in her backpack. For an hour we walked Belle(the white horse) and Cocoon(the brown horse) all over the meadow and through trails(that's what they said their names were). The girls had a blast. Every once and awhile we would get stuck in the meadow, because there was yummy grass and flowers for the horses to eat. We went to the lodge to pay and it was more reasonable than we thought. It costed us $10 for each horse for the hour. What a great deal. We will be doing this again. We ate lunch at their little restaurant and headed back down to Pinecrest. On our way back to camp we went through the tiny town of Strawberry and saw... Big Foot! Around 7:45pm we walked over to thge outdoor movie theater to watch Night at the Museum thr Battle of the Smithsonian. We loved huddling together all wrapped up in our blankets as we watched this fun movie.

Day 1 Exploring Out On Pincerst Lake

Our first day of camping no matter where we go, always starts off at the crack of dawn. Our girls get up with the first morning rays and so we always get an early start to our day. So this morning we made hot chocolate and french toast for breakfast. With everyone helping we cleaned up and got ready to explore the towns around us. We drove to the Pinecrest store to buy a few odd and ends and then drove to Aspen Meadows to see if they had the horseback riding available yet. They were still closed for the season so we drove back to Pinecrest Lake Resort Marina. We rented a motor boat for 2 hours and went out on the Lake. Ashlyn and Autumn were excited, but Aubrey was not happy to get on especially once we strapped her up in a life vest. She finally stopped throwing a fit and fell fast asleep. We did a little fishing and cruised around the Lake. We saw Strawberry Dam up close and where the waterfall feeds into the Lake. Autumn got bored and soon she was fast asleep. Ashlyn started to get bored until Noah let her drive the boat, then it was Awesome!


After the afternoon boat ride we went to the Snack Shack to eat ice cream cones. Once back at our campsite the girls started to put on a concert for us. Then they performed the wizard of OZ play. I was the wicked witch and the Noah was the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion. The girls played various parts. It was the perfect way to end our day.

Campimg at Pinecrest

Late this afternoon we packed our camping gear into the truck and headed over to Sonora and up to Pinecrest Lake. It took us about 3 hours to get to there. We checked in and found our campsite. We began to set everything up before the sun set. Aubrey helped dad get things out of the truck.At around 8:15pm we heard someone on a loud speaker at the outdoor amphitheater. We heard that they played movies there. I went over to check out what movie they were playing and found out it was Monsters Vs. Aliens. Noah told me to take the girls to the movie while he finished sitting up camp. It did cost money, $6.00 per person over age 3, but was really neat to sit outside and watch a movie under the stars. The girls got a kick out of it even though we have seen this movie before. The rest of the weekend the Pinecrest Theater will be playing Night at the Museum the Battle of the Smithsonian. We will be going to see that in the next day or so.

Surprize Package in the Mail

Yesterday we received a package in the mail from Noah's cousin Kathryn. I knew it was something she had sewn for my girls. I was totally excited to see what she did for them. Inside were three smaller packages one for each of my girls. We had them open it up all at the same time and this is what they got... 2 Aprons each and matching bandanna to go with one of the Aprons. Each apron had fruit on it. Apples for Autumn, Strawberries for Aubrey, and Oranges for Ashlyn just like their secret agent name. They are too cute. The girls love them and wore their bandannas to school and around the house all day.
Thank You Kathryn you ROCK! We can't wait for our next package. :)

Talent Night

For a few months now our ward has been planning a ward talent night and for a few weeks now I have asked my family what they would like to do. I assumed we were not doing anything. Then this morning when I asked again my girls said they wanted to dance. They were set on a certain song and then they watched The Veggie Tales Movie "Jonah and the Whale". They suddenly decided to do the song "In the belly of a whale." I thought it would be cute if they had a prop so I cut out a giant whale shape out of plastic and pinned it to our blue blanket we have. Noah thought it would be cute to add their faces on the belly of the whale. We had a little technical difficulty before they started, but we got it together just in time. Ashlyn and Aubrey were a little shy and stayed hidden in back most of the time. Autumn was the star of the dance twirling and spinning on stage. She loved the spotlight and showed off her dancing talent. Everyone loved it. Especially the part where Ashlyn dropped Aubrey. Although no one laughed out loud they told us afterwards they had to surpress their laughter. Noah thought it was the best part of their dance.

(Coming Soon the video of their Dance)

Mother's Day

This Mother's Day we had an amazing time with Noah's family. His Mom and older sister Becky and her family arrived on Saturday afternoon to visit, play, and eat some In and Out Burgers at the park. On Sunday morning we ate a delicious apple raisin oatmeal crackpot meal Noah's mom made the night before. We all went to church together and I think it wore out the big kids. They just sat on the couch for an hour watching cartoons. The little ones just played outside in the sandbox.That afternoon Noah's little sister Rachel and her family came over. The men took over the kitchen making us our Cafe Rio style dinner. It was so Yummy!We then opened up our gifts. I got a ton of drawings from my girls, a silver necklace, Five Crowns card game,a nice pair of sandals, a 1 hour massage, and my favorite thing ... a sun catcher that my girls and Noah made for me. Noah made two kinds of homemade ice cream for dessert along with chocolate covered strawberries his sister provided. As the evening went on we hung out and let the cousins play with each other. It was a fantastic Mother's Day and I am so blessed.

Mother's Day Luncheon

Autumn's Preschool had a Mother's Day Luncheon for all the Moms on Thursday. When I walked in the door Autumn was there waiting to take my hand and show me to my seat on the outdoor patio. All the mom's were able to sit, talk, and visit with one another while our little ones brought out our yummy lunch. We were served chicken croissant sandwiches, caesar salad, chocolate covered strawberries, and chocolate chip cookies. It was so yummy! Autumn enjoyed my croutons too. Once we were served the kids went back inside to have chicken nuggets, apple slices, and carrot sticks. I had a nice and relaxing lunch. When the kids were done they came outside to sing to us three mother's day songs and each one of them told their moms what they love about them. Autumn said "She loves me because, I brush her hair pretty and I always make her cookies." As we left Autumn handed me a gift bag with a present in it for me. She wanted me to open it up right away. So that exactly what I did. Attached to my gift was a poem called Tiny Hands

There used to be so many of my
Fingerprints to see,
On the furniture and walls and things
From sticky, grubby me
But if you stop and think a while
You'll see I'm growing fast,
Those tiny hand prints disappear,
You can't bring back what's past.
So here's a small reminder,
To keep, not wipe away,
Of tiny hands and how they looked,
To make you smile some day.

What a great time I had with my little Autumn. I loved every minute of it.

Noah the... Mechanic?

For those of you that don't already know Noah's work gave him a new truck to use. But we still have our old truck. So a couple of months ago we cleaned up the truck and Noah fixed a few things on it that he felt would improve the sell of the truck. We put it up for sell, but have had no takers. The past month with the van in the shop and the battery getting drained on it a week later I needed to have an extra vehicle, so I have been driving the old truck around. I noticed that the check engine light came on and I informed Noah about it. He decided he better take it into the shop and have it looked at. After spending several hundred dollars to fix a few of the problems they informed us that we needed to spend another $500 to fix some other problems. Noah is very handy when it comes to working on our vehicles and decided that he could fix all the items himself. On Saturday he went to Kragen Auto Parts and bought all the parts he needed. About five hours later, exhausted, and with several layers of grease, oil, and dirt he was finally finished. He told me it was worth working on it to save us money, but much harder on a big truck than when he worked on his little pickup. Noah said "I am really glad I am an Engineer and not a Mechanic, because this is so much harder." I am really glad too!