Joe's Valley

Last weekend Jared took the kids up to Joe's Valley so I could get some scrapbook stuff done. They hiked up to a waterfall, fished, and found a geo cache. The leaves were changing, and Carlee took a bunch of pictures out of the car window. Some of them actually turned out pretty good. Here's a few pictures of the day.

Soccer!

Zak is a soccer star! Here are few pictures of his game last week!

Zak is so cute. I don't know if you can see it in this picture or not, but he always has a smudge of dirt on the tip of his nose. It doesn't matter if he's just had a shower 1 hour ago, he will always have a dirty nose!

Scrapbook Expo!

Jessica, Anna, Heather, Carlee, Brooklyn, and I spent a fun weekend at the scrapbook expo. We had a good time and found lots of deals. Jessica is the biggest geek out of all of us, and she brought a SUITCASE with wheels on it to haul all of her stuff around the expo. She actually filled the entire thing up! Brooklyn and Carlee had fun too. We let them walk around on their own, so they thought they were big girls. They got ice cream and spent a bunch of time at the Story Tellers booth. Leslie is always so sweet to Carlee. She always lets her and her friends make a page.
We also went shopping and ate at Mimi's cafe. YUM! I took a lot of pictures, but everybody was being picture poopers and making strange faces or doing wierd stuff. I am going to post some of them anyway because I'm mean like that! HA!

This weekend Anna, Jessica, Heather, and I all went to the scrapbook expo. I took pictures, but I can't find the cord to upload them. Soooo, I am going to post a few pictures of the kids at the wave pool in August. We spent quite a few afternoons cooling off at the wave pool. It is definately a favorite family activity.
Jennie Lin and I decided we'd better take the kids one last time before school started, so we grabbed a couple of 5$ Little Ceasar's pizzas and spent the afternoon swimming. Zachary has to wear a life jacket because he is so crazy. He spends the entire time trying to get into the highest waves he can. In fact, he has been fished out of the waves two different times by the lifeguard! He now knows that he is not allowed past 3 feet no matter what! Carlee is a little more timid, but everytime we go she gets a little bit more interested in getting out in the waves. Her favorite thing to do is get a creamie popsicle and layout next to the water. Here are a few pictures of Zak, McCoy, Carlee, and Maddy.

Big Rock Candy Mountain!

We went to Big Rock Candy Mountain for our annual "Dodd Reunion" over Memorial Day weekend. We ended up staying in a different place this year. Usually we camp in the trailer, but this time we stayed in a cabin. UPGRADE!!!! It was a lot of fun, and we did some exciting stuff!

When we first got there, we went to unload our food and realized that between all of us we had 14 bags of chips!!! We had two entire laundry baskets full of snacks! I thought Anna was in charge of bringing the snacks, and I figured I better bring some extra just in case she didn't realize how much we were going to eat. Well, I should have known better...my Mom brought snacks, Jessica brought snacks, Krista brought snacks lol! You get the idea. The best part of the whole thing was that when we went to pack up there was only about 3 bags of chips left over! We know how to eat!




The second day of the trip we decided to go river rafting. It was our second time, but Zak and Carlee's first time. We had a great time. Nobody fell out of the raft this year! Our guide was named Stony and he had a crush on Anna. He kept talking about how cool she was. (If he only knew...) Zak and Carlee both enjoyed it. Zak actually almost fell asleep on the boat. I think the water must have made him tired.



On Sunday everybody spent a lot of time riding 4-wheelers and motorcycles. Grandma bought the boys Nerf guns and play-doh. The girls got a baby doll and fake cell phones. The kids played a bunch and had fun with their cousins.
Richard's birthday was a few days earlier (HAPPY BIRTHDAY!) so after dinner we had cake and sang. That night we played some Mafia and huddled around the fire.






It was a fun weekend. I think my favorite part was just hanging around the cabin in the awesome weather. It ended up raining a little bit and it wasn't super hot. Carlee liked roasting marshmellows and playing with Ruby. Zak had fun rafting and playing Mario Brothers with Porter. We had such a good time and I can't wait for next year.

Golf!!!

I told Jennie and Tiffany that I was going to post pictures of Golf...so here they are! We've had so much fun this summer learning to play. None of us had ever played before, and we didn't have a clue about ANYTHING when we started. I am happy to say that we improved a lot! I only got hit twice with a golf ball. Haha! Once by a old man on hole #9, and once in an unmentionable place by Jennie! Thanks a lot Jennie, I think I still have the bruise! Here are a few pictures...



Riding in the sweet golf cart!

Nice swing Jennie!

FORE!!!!

Our New Blog!

So, I have decided to make our family a blog. We will see how long I keep this up. I told a couple of my friends that I was going to try this out, so hopefully that will keep me motivated to keep posting!



Here are a few pictures of the first day of school. Carlee, Zak, and I all started a new school this year! We moved to Orangeville this May, which is about 10 minutes away from Ferron. I was able to get a transfer to Cottonwood Elementary, which is the school here in Orangeville. They just started a new Special Ed program, and I am working in the self contained unit. It is challenging, but a lot of fun.



Zak is in 1st grade. His teacher's name is Mrs. Alton. He says "she is nice and never screams". I think the thing he was most excited about was getting to eat lunch at the cafeteria.


Carlee is in 4th grade. Her teacher is named Mr. Winn. She was excited to go to school and meet some new friends. She came home from school the first day happy because she wasn't the shortest person in her class! Yeah!

Aren't they cute!