Preschool...Football....Wild Child

 Adam's first day of preschool 

He was excited and couldn't wait. He has the same teacher from last year, Teacher Amy.

How come we just can't do a normal pose?

That's better, but a smile would be nice! Boys!

ROUND VALLEY  VS.  ALCHESAY

Clayton had his first football game last week against Alchesay. It was the JV game because a lot of schools on the mountain don't have a Freshman team. He started on every play and made 2 touchdowns. They won by A LOT! That's typical for us when we play Alchesay in football. 

Clayton #10 gets to play football with his cousin Ryan #22. Ryan is the quarter back and Clayton is a receiver. They make a pretty good team. I can't wait to watch them play varsity together!

getting ready for offense

I have no explanation for this except that I have to document that Aarron chose to wear this to school and I tried to convince him to push down the socks. He refused and so I told him I was taking a picture so that in 20 years when he ask..."Why did you let me wear that"...I can show him that it was all his idea!

I love this kid! 

I just don't know if I will survive raising him past 10 years old!

He also got put in time out this week for mimicking a teacher. It was not his first grade teacher but she was helping and when she told him..."Aarron we don't talk like that"...he came back with..."we don't talk like that"...I don't know what to do with this kid! He's my first kid to be bad at home and at school. Everyone else just has there bad moments at home and are perfect angels at school. I am really good friends with his teacher and I gave her permission to beat him if she has to!

First Day of School

 Monday, August 13th was the first day of school for everyone except Adam.

Clayton 9th grade

Carson 8th grade

Harly 7th grade

Daycee 4th grade

MacKenzie 3rd grade

Aarron 1st grade

This year we have a four day school week. It's going to be an interesting year with long days and a long weekend! Can't wait to see how it pans out!

Girls Camp

Girls Camp this year was at Lyman Lake. We had 19 girls total throughout the three days. Our first day we took our hike around our campground.

 The girls quickly changed their clothes and went straight to the water.

Dayson put his boat on the lake and gave everyone turns on the tube.

Katie, Kortni, Harly

 Shayla, Harly, Katie

Katie, Harly, Lauren

These girls were not to happy about going to Lyman Lake because it's "dirty water". But before it was over they were on my boat, than in the tube and even got in the water! I love these girls!

 

Sis. Merrill, Shayla, Kaitlynn

Fireside Night

back row: Rachel, Shiloh, Paige W, Evie, Paige G, Kaitlynn, Shayla, Ashley, Jenna

bottom row: Cameron, Kristen, Cierra, Brooke, Katie, Harly, Jessica, Kortni, Lauren

with the leaders, back row left to right: Sis. Downer (2), Sis Madrid (3), Sis Merrill (9), Sis Wilkins (13)

and on the ground: Sis Martin!

The last morning Dayson was getting as much fishing as he could, and caught a few fish. 

Dayson was our Priesthood Leader and took care of all of us like a real man! 

He was right there helping the girls reel in a fish!

They were so excited to finally catch a big one!

Girls camp this year was a blast and I love all of our girls for making it a special time for all of us!

 

After we got home, unloaded and cleaned up, we decided to take the kids back to the Lake since we still had our day pass. On our way to the lake we spotted this awesome double rainbow. It ended right at Lyman Lake, our very own "pot of gold"!

We didn't have much time because the sun was going down so everyone got two turns than it was time to be done.

Carson, Aarron, Clayton

Daycee, MacKenzie, Harly

Carson, Adam, Mom

I can't wait to take the kids back to the lake before it closes for winter!

The Month that NEVER Ends!

 In the midst of completing an Eagle Scout project, Carson finally got his braces on. He had been wearing spacer for the last 6 months to prepare his mouth for the medal!

Sully had his braces put on the same day as Carson. The boys were hurting pretty bad the next day while working on the Eagle Scout project. They're such good troopers!

Adam decided it was his birthday and we had to celebrate with brownies and homemade gifts. Aarron wanted to wrap himself so MacKenzie did just that! It was such a funny day for our family. We sang "Happy Birthday", hid in the dark and yelled surprise by Adam's request...he even got scared at his own surprise party that he planned. The little kids including Harly wrapped him presents and it was so funny!

Finally came our Merrill Family Reunion at Big Lake. Dayson took the boys fishing in the early mornings and I tagged along on one of the afternoons. We didn't catch any fish but Aarron and Carson had one each on their lines but lost them. 

Adam and Lance taking a ride on the Rhino

Kenzie getting a crazy golf cart ride from Aunt Rachelle

The boys playing bags!

Adam going for a ride with Rachelle, Sierra and Cassie

Adam and his cool hand moves!

Last day family pictures

Aarron sneaking up on a squirrel while Adam struggles to keep his pants up!

Spending three days up on the mountain was a lot of fun and a good break for everything we had done and were still about to do!

Combined Eagle Scout Project

 Clayton and Carson started their Eagle Scout project a few weeks ago and finished it last week.

Their project was to remove the grass from this area and lay stepping stones down.

This will help cut back on water and yard maintenance.

 First Clayton and Ryan pulled out the LDS employment sign...this was easier than they thought it would be!

 While they were pulling out the sign, Carson and Sully were digging out the tree stump...this was harder than they thought it would be!

 Aarron was right there by his brothers side helping with all the work.

Carson taking a turn at the stump

Clayton and Ryan helping with the stump

Finally dad decides to pull it out with his truck!

Victory!

2nd, the sprinkler system has to be capped and ran to the trees.

3rd, the bobcat removes all the grass. This was an all day event. The boys worked very hard and we are grateful to the Burnham boys for all their help!

4th, laying the stepping stones. Rita, Clayton, Dayson and Adam making sure it's straight.

Daycee trying out the steps, making sure there okay to walk on!

Aarron and Adam playing in the sand. This was a blast for them. We had cloudy skies most of the time and we couldn't have asked for better weather!

Aarron and Adam helping dad lay the stones

Carson and Bro. Nicoll (scoutmaster) rounding out the corner

This projects belongs to Clayton, Carson and Trayser. They are 1/4  of the way done. It took almost 5 more days to complete after this picture. Trayser is my best friend's son who is also in our ward.

One more day to go! I still don't have a final picture of the project. I am waiting for my life to slow down long enough to get uniforms on the boys and take a picture!

This is most of the boys that helped with the Eagle Scout project. From left to right:

Clayton, Carson, Dayson, Ryan, Adam, Trayser, Jalon, Michael, Marshall, Aarron, Sully, Jacob

Thank you to everyone who made this project possible. We can't wait for both of our boys to be Eagle Scouts real soon!