RIDGER'S very first day of SCHOOL!

Yesterday I helped my youngest child get on the school bus for the very first time. His first...my last!! I really wasn't sure how he would do or if he would even do it. He was so cute and sooo excited, he didn't even act scared at all!! I thought I would be super sad and emotional, but seeing how ready and how excited he was made me feel so happy for him!! He has Mrs. Peters for a teacher, and all of the other kids had her for Kindergarten also, so he thinks that is pretty cool. He also gets to go to the brand new K-2nd school that South Weber just built,(as of last week it wasn't even finished). His classroom is 2 doors down from Rykers class so he gets to see Ryker a lot.
I am so happy he is excited to go to school and likes it so much! He is such a joy to have in our family and keeps us all laughing all of the time! I love you Ridger Thomas!!

Where the Heck is the "STOP" button...

Wow!! It is officially the first day of school and I honestly can't believe where the summer went!! It feels like it is still the last week of school from last year.

Today is Rylee's official first day of High School, River's first day of Junior High and Ryker started second grade. Ridger's Kindergarten doesn't officially start until next week, which is probably good because he deserves a post of his own on his special big day!!
I thought I was doing pretty good this morning as I was rushing getting everybody off. But as soon as everything slowed down and I got in the shower, it hit me!! My little girl is in High School!!!! It doesn't get much crazier than that!! I am trying so hard to be excited for her and for these fun next few years she has to enjoy and look forward to. But I honestly know that this is the beginning of the end, and from here on out she isn't my little girl anymore and doesn't need me much!(except for my wallet!) I hope and pray that her and River will make wise decisions in the coming years and that I will be able to stay close to both of them.
I am so excited for all three of them and the new school year they have to enjoy!! Now if we can just get back into a regular schedule...adjust to waking up early, going to bed at a decent time and homework every night?!?!?!

It's Great to be Eight!!!

Today Ryker was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!! He was so excited and looked so cute all dressed in his white jumpsuit that was rolled up three times on the bottom. He wasn't supposed to be baptized until next month, but apparently there were so many candidates from our Stake that they needed to add an additional day. They decided to do it this week so the newly baptized children could attend the Oquer Mountain Temple dedication which is scheduled for tomorrow.

Ryker was baptized and confirmed by Trevor. Rylee was the speaker on Baptism and did such a great job! River gave the closing prayer and the witnesses were my dad and Trevor's dad. It was so last minute with the date change that we didn't have a lot of time to let our families know and so not very many of the extended family could make it so we decided to have a huge baptism dinner/Birthday bash for both him and River on Sunday when more of the family could come. The baptism was great and Ryker was beaming!! The spiritual feeling didn't last long though because his very first football game was immediately following the baptism, and it was intense! Welcome to the world of little league football- which is a whole post on it's own!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations on your baptism Ryker!! I am so proud of you and I know your Father in Heaven is too!! I love you so much and hope that you will always remember your special baptism day! Always do your best to live up to the covenants and promises you made at your baptism and always choose the right!! I love you...

Island Park 2009!

Another year of the annual Schenck camping trip to Island Park has come and gone! We have went to Island Park camping almost every year since Trevor and I have been married. It is a trip that their whole family looks forward to all year long. As soon as one year has come and gone, everyone starts planning for the next year! Our kids love it! It is such a fun get away and such a great time for the kids to make memories and get to know all their cousins even better. Trevor has 9 siblings and most of them have between 3 and 6 kids, so we have a huge group who goes up with us each year. We stay at the Coffee Pot campground right in Island Park! We float the river(usually multiple times), play water games in the river, go four-wheeling, go boating/ wake boarding, jump off the bridge into the freezing cold water, go in to Yellowstone, go to West Yellowstone and see a play at the Playmill, sight see all of the beautiful sights around Island Park, go hiking,eat and eat some more, have a huge camp fire every night, and have so much fun and make so many memories with the entire family! It is truly the best trip ever!

This year we went up 2 nights early and did some sight seeing through Yellowstone before meeting up with the rest of the family in Island Park for the next week. So we were away for 10 days and it was wonderful! This year it was a little colder than normal, but that didn't stop us at all, we had a wonderful trip!

the kids eating lunch before going home on the last day

one night at the camp fire

Trevor and I love to go on a canoe ride at sunset-beautiful!

Ridger jumping off the bridge, he did it twice-two different days!

Ryker jumping off the bridge- he did it tons of times! I love how he puts his right

arm out when he jumps, he always does that!

Rylee jumping off the bridge- she only did it once! I love how she plugs her nose!

River jumped so many times I kept missing taking his picture because he would go so quick!

Rylee and Ridger in West Yellowstone

one of the many trips down the river

some people don't know how to obey rules!! No, they didn't see this sign because they actually got in the river at a different location and walked up to that spot to sit! They didn't know the sign was there, but Rylee, Kelly and I did and we were trying to tell them, but they couldn't here us!! It was soooooo funny!!!

a better picture of the law breaking Schenck crew!!- still not knowing they were doing anything wrong! hahahaha!!

Mesa Falls- so beautiful!

Ridger was so done looking at the geysers!

swimming in the river in Yellowstone- legally- no signs posted

around here about not swimming!!

we stopped in Lava on the way up and floated down the riverRyker taking a break from floating

Ridger and Trevor all ready to float it again

Ready to have some fun!!!

Lighthouses in the Night...

Wow!! I can't believe that girls camp has come and gone again. It really feels like we just got home from camp last year. I was called to be Girls Camp director in my ward again this year and had so much fun planning it, and going up and spending time with the great young women of our ward.
The theme for this year was "Lighthouses in the Night!" It was such a fun theme and we did so many great activities. The first day we met at the church and then carpooled up to Beaver Mountain and went horse back riding. It was so beautiful and the girls had so much fun! After horse back riding we went to the Logan Temple for lunch and pictures! It was beautiful! Then we were off to Mantua to set up camp and get settled! We had an awesome week and I felt the girls grew so much spiritually!! One of my favorite things we did was had a "Tree of Light". This was a tree in the middle of our camp that we had decorated with lights. I had a bucket with paper and markers and told the girls to write little notes to each other through out the week.Then we hung each of the little notes on the tree decorated with lights. I wasn't sure how this would go over or if the girls would even do it, but they had so much fun writing kind notes to each other. It was so fun to read all the sweet notes that they wrote to each other and so neat to see how much they enjoyed this!
One other good idea I did kind of last minute was making water bottles for each of the girls. I just bought water bottels from Sams that had the lid that pops up and down. I printed each girls name on a piece of paper and they put their name on their water bottle and then put contact paper over top of it. Then they put a small washer around the top of the water bottle and a tied a ribbon through the washer to make a lanyard. They turned out so cute. It was soooooo hot the week of camp so these were used so much.
I loved going to Girls Camp as a youth and have really enjoyed going as a leader these past few years. Thank you so much for all of the wonderful memories Pioneer Ward Young Women and leaders!!!