advent calendar

i had forgotten that i made this advent calendar last year and was so excited to find it with all the decorations. the kids love peeking inside each box to see if maybe, maybe their mother trusts them enough to fill all 25 boxes on day 1. Ha! Fools, i tell you! Fools!

where have we been?

well, i'd like to say that we have tons of fun things to post, but alas, we're just doing the usual--church, school, and more church. we're feeling the effects of tithing settlement season and 50 or so youth interviews that have been on the schedule.

We were lucky enough to have one night to throw together our annual Thankful Turkey. We had a pumpkin left over from the garden and since he didn't get carved, he found his fate with tons of toothpick holes in his buns.

thankful things the kids came up with this year:

school, church, mom and dad, friends, food (the usual)

eli was thankful for tools (meaning his tub of play tools that he uses everyday to fix things)

he was also thankful for his zoobs

mallory was still thankful for her blankie (still can't get rid of that one) and makeup (the only thing on her christmas list this year)

isaac was thankful for the utes
and megan was thankful for her freedom and country

We had a fabuous Thanksgiving with the Hawes', chaos and all.

The kiddos love any excuse to get together with cousins and drive all the adults batty.

Isaac spent the whole day in heaven playing football with spencer, sam and jackson. that kid has found his new love. whether or not he will be participating in said new love has yet to be determined. He also got to go snowboarding the next day with sam and is set on gettting a snowboard for christmas. fat chance. this kid will soon realize that the time/expence aspect of ski/snowboarding is one thing his non-skiing parents have a hard time with. don't worry, he'll soon learn;)

Megan and Mal spent Thanksgiving trying to avoid the "football field" and getting "accidentally" tackled. They have just as much fun at grandmas playing store, school, and anything else their creative minds can come up with.

We just had to keep Eli away from all other small cousins as he attacks at will. There was only one golf-club swing to a face. No one is owning up to it, but deep down, we know Eli was the swinger.

halloween 09

black cat mallory, ipod silhouette dude megan, ipod isaac, and power ranger eli

getting ready for the big night out

m & i were gone after one picture

free candy waits for no one

especially camera wielding moms

fall goings on

after replanting thousands (i swear, not an exaggeration) of bulbs for next spring and tearing apart our playroom to make a normal family room (translation for the kids: finally breaking down and getting a tv) we had some time to get all fallish. a few of the highlights...

activity #1: having our first go at making doughnuts to spook the neighbors (side note: time consuming project, especially without a doughnut cutter...but fun and yummy nonetheless)

activity #2: a visit to the witches at gardner village with eli's playgroup

activity #3: enjoying the great weather by biking around the lake and stopping at all the parks on the way

activity #4: an afternoon spent at the new mcdonald's in the district to check out their new playplace and enjoy some fries

other activities, not pictured: walk to the local pumpkin patch, numerous nights of games with the neighbor kids, canning, canning and more canning (peaches, pears, applesauce and pie filling, grape and plum juice, tomatoes, salsa, and spaghetti sauce, and raspberry jam), throwing together "reflections" projects, playing volleyball with the young women, ward chile cook-off, and finishing up the fall soccer season.

whew! what an october!!

we've arrived!!!!

i just had to post about our most recent milestone. 10 1/2 yr. old megs has officially become our resident babysitter. last weekend, matt and i had a halloween party to be at and i was contemplating on which sitter to use. when i asked megs who she would want to come over she told me she thought she could do it. i've used her before for runs to the store and errands but never a full blown put-the-kids-to-bed, don't let anyone get maimed, lets avoid a 911 call type of job. since we were just going to be in the neighborhood, we gave her the nod and 5.5 hours of FREE, free time later, she had all the little ones fed and down (a feat not all our normal sitters have yet to accomplish), dishes done, and house picked up (well, semi picked up). we have been waiting for this day for YEARS, i tell you, YEARS!!!!

it was like a dream come true. the $40 that would have been spent on a sitter is staying put. matt and i have been planning all week what to do with our new found freedom.

so far...

early morning temple trip

run to walmart to start christmas shopping (gone for a while)

temple again tonight

night out this weekend

the list will continue

on and on

until she goes away to college and

poof

eli is11...practically an adult.

are you counting the $$$$ in savings?

cha-ching!

trip to lake powell

We've been anticipating this for months!

the kids, and their parents, have been patiently (or not so patiently) awaiting this trip to powell with our colorado buddies, the duncan's and the luck's.

we met at Bullfrog on wednesday night and spent the next 3 days soaking up the southern utah sun, getting our H2O skiing fix (it's been way too long!!!), visiting national monuments, catching up with our favorite people, hitting the dunes up moki canyon, and swimming, swimming, swimming (as if we haven't done enough this summer)

McQueens meet Rainbow Bridge





After a fun, long lost friend-filled trip down south we head home early so Matt can begin his reign as the newest "father" of the Daybreak 7th ward...if you get my drift...

i can't believe it! we're too young for this kind of responsiblitiy
we can barely keep up with our own kids
how are we going to keep up with a whole ward?

Hawes'

With my little brothers and their fams in town, it's time for another Hawes family portrait.

The answer is "yes" to all those wondering if getting all these kids to look at a camera all at once is a nightmare

we're lower left

me and my kiddos

Here we are...

The little people i spend the majority of my life with

but only for a short while longer

as they grow up so fast

and will soon be on their way

making a go of this world

with their own families

X o O X x o O

the new me

after months of blah
i finally got an actual style

this may be the one and only time my hair looks good as someone else gets the credit for doing it

POW!

Isaac came home from playing football with the young men last night with this...

I guess that's what you get when you send your eight year old to play with the 16 year olds.

A shiner for your baby boy, that is

He's SUPER excited to get to school today and tell the guys all about it

I mean, who wouldn't?

Don't let this smile fool you

We did it...

Matt and I ran our first half marathon this weekend in Logan

I may be smiling here but inside i'm thinking,"i may never walk again"

pppppppeaches!

Undoubtedly, the favorite of all the trees in the orchard. It's peach season folks

If i don't answer the phone for the next few days...know i'll be dealing with these beauties

It's that time...

Say goodbye to summer...and Hello to all things school

back to...

bikes,

backpacks,

lunches,

after school snacks,

reading EVERY day (Isaac),

piano each week,

soccer practice,

activity days and cubs,

homework,

reality.

And one week later...

Mal gets her first taste of kindergarten!

waiting in line with all her buddies from church

a pleasant surprise...seeing isaac at recess while waiting in line

last one in line...

After a long summer full of swimming at the lake, trips to idaho, camping, and general frivolity it's time to get back to real life...the daily grind...a routine.

This year Mallory gets to join the fray by starting kindergarten.

Starting a week later than her siblings has been rough but she made it through until today and she's rearing to go.

Megan is in 5th... I repeat, FIFTH!! grade. She's growing up so fast I can't believe it!! The next thing you know, she'll be married...ok, hopefully not, but you get my drift.

Isaac, a third grader... feels like he's finally in the "upper grades"--and not a kid anymore.

and Eli, little Eli. His post is forthcoming as he starts his playgroup this week.

Everyone is moving up...

and moving on...

a new mr. moroni

I have tons of belated posts from this summer but wanted to post our most recent happenings this week in SoJo--

we'll miss you burnt arm moroni

Mallory rides! FINALLY

This week Mal and her bestest across the street bud decided they would hop on their bikes and join the bike riding world--and we have yet to get them off. I've been pulling my hair out trying to get this girl to ride a bike...and to think, all i needed to do was to be 5 and have blonde braids and a blue headband.

3 down...1 to go

me thinks i'll be using this phrase a lot in the near future

idaho #3

For our third trip north this summer ( i know you're wondering where trip #2 is... but it was over a month ago and almost a blur anyway...if i can steal pictures from my sister i may get around to recapping it) we headed up with the whole of the Hawes clan. We were totally expecting a usual warm August...but were surprised with chilly, windy weather. Almost too cold to swim. Malee kept us all busy doing yard work--getting the fall cleanup under way before the house gets closed up for the summer-- and house work--vacuuming, dusting, and more vacuuming (those jergensen women love their vacuums!!!)

The girls kept busy with Malee's old barbies

and the boys with the Wii and driving the aforementioned girls crazy.

On a day too cold to get in the water, we headed to Rexburg to visit the Teton Dam Museum where we learned all about the dam breaking and the aftermath for the surrounding communities and then headed up to Uncle John's farm that borders the dam and walked right out on the overlook to see what we'd just learned about. In all these years, I never realized that my uncles farmland was part of the land used to build the dam (ie, the BLM came in and told him they were taking 16 feet of his topsoil and then he and his family proceeded in having to shovel their own farmland out of their basement when the dam broke and flooded their Rexburg home.) Doesn't that just sound like the trade of the century?

All in all...

The kiddos traded their day at the Sand Bar to a day on the farm riding 4 wheelers and crawling all over John's farm equipment. An experience in an of itself. And once home, they were filthy!!!! (and all you Jergensen's know what that means!!)

We hurried back on Sunday night to have our last week of summer before it's time to GO BACK!!

(One more picture of Mr. Eli and his attempt at helping with the yard

way too busy...

way too many distractions)

Isaac's baptism

Ok. these pictures go out of order b/c i can't for the life of me get them to rearrange.

Isaac got to share his big day with his fav cousin, Sam (whose baptism we had to hurry off to when we were done with Isaac's). These two are 3 days apart, born on each other's due dates, and shared blessing days and now baptism days and we're looking forward to a double missionary farewell in 11 years. These two, best buddies from the womb.

All of Isaac's cousin support.

We had our hands full trying to keep all these jokesters quiet for an hour,

impossible (and we're even short 6 in this picture!)

Isaac was baptized on August 8, 2009 by his dad (Who is 2 for 2 in getting overcome with emotion while performing this ordinance for his children:) He has been waiting for this day for some time as he is the last of his crew of friends to take the plunge. He was so excited to wear a matching tie with Matt and since he got his first "real tie" a few months ago, has learned to tie them himself and refuses to go back to zipper ties (as you see eli sporting here)

We had a little scare that our family was going to be in charge of the musical number

HA!! Can you imagine us giving that a shot?

But was relieved to discover a mix up on assignments where we (when i say we, i mean "I") got relegated to offer up the "talk on baptism" instead. Speeches aren't my forte, but is much more doable than a musical number.

summer fun

what we've been doing when we haven't been in idaho, camping, hanging out with cousins, or having a birthday party

AAAHHHHHH! Summer

just three more days and it's all over
'till next year