Hume Lake

We have been attending Twin Falls Reformed Church now for about 4 years. It reminds me a lot of the church that I grew up in and they have such a great children's program. This year we decided to send the Girls to Hume Lake Church Camp with the junior high church group. It is located in California, just outside of Fresno in the mountains. The Girls in the past few years have been going to Luther Heights church camp close by, but we really wanted something more for the Girls this year and had heard such amazing things about this camp. Its quite expensive and they are gone for 9 days. For the past several months there have been fundraisers. One was a big fiesta dinner at the church and the other was "Flocking". This was a lot of fun. You go around to peoples houses and place yard flamingos in their lawn with a note asking for donations. This is done at night so nobody can see you do it. Then people wake up the next morning with flamingos in their yard. Pretty cute! Anyways, the girls went this past week. Not only did they have a blast during the camp with all their activities, but they built stonger relationships, not only with church member friends, but with God. I am mostly writing this post to tell you about Jordan's experience. She said that during worship time, people would sing and raise their hands. She said that she wasn't into doing that and that she just wasn't feeling it. She said the next day she really felt it and said, heck, I don't care what people think, I'm gonna raise my hands. I thought that was cute. The next event was her one on one time with Kelly Vriesman, the counselor from our church and the pastors daughter. They talked about baptism and setting goals. She set 2 goals. One was to read a few verses from the bible each night before she goes do bed and the other is to attend more Wednesday night church events with the junior high group. She didn't know what to think about the baptism conversation, so I told her that when she was ready we could talk more serious about it, but not to rush. I want her to choose it on her own, not because she was persuaded to. The third and most special event that took place for her at camp was a story she told her fellow cabin mates. She told the story about her and Logan as babies. She remembered that she struggled breathing and eating as a premature baby on her own, so the nurses decided to place Logan in the same isolet with Jordan. Shortly after that took place, Jordan started to progress. She and the rest of our family always said and thought, wow your sister helped you get better Jordan, but Jordan realized that it was God that made her better. She said she started to cry, so her friends hugged her to make her feel better. Gosh, just writing this, makes me tear up. What a special, "Jesus" moment. I hope and I am sure she will always remember that moment for the rest of her life. I hope that Logan will see this and feel that spirit some day as well. AMEN!
P.S. every year there is a theme. The kids have to dress up using that theme one night, so the girls all decided to be the 7 dwarfs, so within 48 hours I made 7 dwarf costumes. Here is Logan as "Sneezy".

Capital Field Trip

For 4th grade in Idaho, the kids always take a field trip to Boise to visit the Capital, Old Penn, Aquarium, etc. Here is Kaden locked up in a cell at the old Penn. and his class in the center of the Capital building. I always enjoy taking this trip with the kids.

Double Digits!

Kaden turned 10 this year on June 19th. He had a group of friends come over to hang out for a bit then we all went down to Bass Lake. He got some cool stuff this year. Biggest gifts were... A Drone, a nice remote race car, which he helped pay for, clothes, etc. I love the look on his face when he opens up the box to his drone. Happy Birthday Bud! The next day, which was fathers day, we went to Pebble Ponds, which is a small executive golf course in Filer. Grandma and Grandpa came along and played as well. Kaden has really taken a liking to golf this summer. We put him in a golf camp, which is every Wednesday for the summer. He likes it so much, Grandpa and us went in on a new set of clubs for him. Lets see what he does from here on with his golf game. Hes got such great patience for the sport, so he has great potential.

Teenagers in the House!

OMG. How did this happen? We have Teenagers in the House. Logan and Jordan turned 13 on May 31st. A few years ago I told the girls that when they turn 13, I would take them and a couple friends to Boise to hang out at Wahooz all day and then stay in a hotel. So that is what we did. We did that over the weekend, which was a couple days before their actual birthday. So on their actual birthday, back home they invited a couple friends down to Bass Lake for the day. They both got Warrior Jerseys, clothes and a game.

Spring Break 2017

This spring break we decided to go to Cancun Mexico. We actually spent our time and stayed in Playa Del Carmen but flew into Cancun. OMG, the water was breathtaking! I have never seen such beautiful water and the white soft sand was amazing! We spent 4 1/2 days there. Two of the days were spent at our resort playing on the beach and pool and eating at the bar along the ocean. One of the other days was spent shopping along the main drag. It went on and on and on. We also drove to Talum to see the ruins. We didn't stay too long there because the kids were hot and sunburned from the first day. We then hopped on a boat and took a short ride to the beach side of the ruins then on over to a snorkeling bay. While snorkeling, we saw turtles and sting rays. That was my favorite part of the trip. The kids and Ryans favorite day was when we went to Xel Ha. It was basically a water amusement park without the water slides. LOL! There were small zip lines, a lazy river ride in tubes, cliff jumps, Cenotes (underground caves to swim in), etc. We even swam with dolphins. Our friends, the Shanks joined us. It was a good time, but from now on we decided to go on these special trips with just family. I missed out on the family time by going with others. Still a great time and great memories were created! We won't miss hearing people ask for "Tips", us asking... "Donde Esta El Bano", the driving is crazy, there are a ton of "Topes" (speed bumps). We rented a 15 passenger van so we could all be together. It was a crappy van, so we called it "The Big Rolling Terd". LOL good times.

Poor Kaden got so burnt the first day. Us parents goofed!

Our resorts pool. HUGE pool

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snorkeling at Xel Ha

Ryan and Jordan

Logan

Jordan

Kaden was sunburned and has blisters on his feet from shoes rubbing. Dad had to give a piggy back ride 

Talum ruins in background

Senor Frogs...sign is a true statement. 

Ryan Turns 43

We celebrated Ryans birthday in Boise this year on March 16th. Both sets of parents joined us along with Tawna & Parker, Chris & Kara, the Shanks and the Nelsons.

Nanas birthday the week before so they are having a birthday dance off

Kids BBall

Thought I would post a picture of the kids basketball teams from this season. Girls "The Blitz", have been together now for 3 years. Hoping for one more year together. Kaden played on his first Club/AAU team "The Ballers".