Happy Birthday dear Cruz.....

That is what Jacob sung as we sang to Axel on his birthday on the 23rd. He requested cupcakes instead of a cake.
We have definitely enjoyed having Axel around as he goes to school at BYU-Idaho. The kids are always asking when Axel is coming back. In fact he has a "assigned" chair for dinner time and even a night that he is assigned for prayers. (As each of the kids have their own day.) It's nice having someone appreciate your cooking.

P.S. Jake gets his name confused all the time. I think the latest that he called Axel was "babe".

Cruz turned "6"

Cruz turned 6 on September 10th.He counted down for months for this day to come.
He got several good presents. DS Games, Money, and Legos.
Legos was a hit with all of the kids.
He requested Split Pea Soup and Chocolate Cake!

It makes it all worth it....

I'm always running behind. I've got lots of pictures and lots of posts but by the end of the day my brain is done thinking. I took this morning off to help my kids and to catch up on a couple things. Only to my surprise there was a bomb threat in McKay's Middle School and now I'm waiting helplessly on more news. They are in lock down and she probably has her phone in her locker because she isn't responding to my text. The District Text stated all students were safe. I'm hoping it's nothing more than some sick person's joke. I've never thought of my kids being in an area where this would go on but I should know better. It could happen anywhere.

So on this Friday, I'm leaving a little note I opened to a couple minutes ago when I opened Kirsten's computer. And I'm hoping good news will come quickly.

By Kirsten:

MY MOM AND DAD ARE THE BEST

My mom dad is the best because he is super nice. My dad builds me Lego buildings. My mom is fun because she lets me play. They are awesome because they bake us dinner. They are fun, nice, responsible, awesome, and last but not least they care.

Kirsten's Baptism

Our busy weekend continued with driving back from Utah right after court on Friday to beat family up here. Kirsten was baptized and confirmed by her dad on Saturday. She has waited a long time for this day.
She picked out the dress with Grandma Smith earlier in the year and all of last week we searched everywhere so she could have white heels that she wanted.
It was a very special day. Kirsten was worried that her hair wouldn't go all the way under so before she was baptized, I pulled it into a ponytail.
She had a lot of family there to support her. Hannah, Maddy, Axel, Aaron Schellenberg and his family, Adam Hayes and his family, Lindsey and her children, her primary teachers, a couple friends from church, and all of my family were there.
Since it's a very rare occasion that my family is "together" we snapped a few family pictures. It's impossible to get everyone looking and everyone visible so we'll have to do with the latter.

a mouth full

We had a very busy weekend. We headed down to Utah Thursday to go to the final court proceedings Friday morning. McKay is now....McKay Addyson Anne Sturgeon Kerksiek. Jacob adopted her and she chose to add two extra names in there,Addyson and Kerksiek. Although, nothing has really changed, she's always been one of us no matter what her name was.

P.S. Can you imagine signing mortgage documents after she is married and she keeps all her names.....

Labor Day

When Betsy was here, Jacob would have the kids work before they could play with the four wheelers.

Now, his latest "steal" has been these scooters.

A friend was throwing them away because they were broken and Jacob asked if he could have them.

After a can of carburetor cleaner, and pumping up the tires, these toys were ready to go.

If only we had these toys around a couple weeks ago.