We Did It!!!!

24 miles in one Day!!!!

~RIM to RIM~

GRAND CANYON

We are the Champions......

We are the Champions.......

No time for losers, 'cause we are the Champions.....

of the

CANYON!!!!

(We sang this song coming out of the canyon.)

It was so great to have my Dad meet us at the end of our long hike.

He dropped us off at the North Rim and picked us up at the South Rim.

It was a wonderful reunion after a long fun exhausting hike!

We started at the tip top of the rim on the right corner of this picture,

hiked all through the mountains and rivers to where

I am standing now and taking the picture.

It was so incredibly amazing!

We had a nice relaxing few minutes at the bottom of the canyon

and had a nice quick lunch and headed out again!

Crossing the Colorado River........

What incredible journey we had together!

.........Night at the County Fair!

Kalicia took this picture of her mommy singing with her

group,

The White Mountain Bells, at the Navajo County Fair.

It was a fun performance!

Then we all jumped on the train ride, while the boys ran to find friends and food.

Charlotte's favorite part was watching Elvis perform!

We could not keep her sitting on her hay bale.

She just kept jumping up and dancing with him and we were in the front row.

In the middle of his performance, he brought her over an Elvis teddy bear.

She loved that!

The boys did find their food and friends!

We all had a fun night at the County Fair.

Charlotte was a "star" in her

1st grade Constitution performance.

Kalicia so badly wants to go to school with her big sister.

She is sitting in envy, watching her sister perform.

Charlotte was so excited to see Grandma and Grandpa Pember come.

She gave them such big hugs!

.....and her best friend, AJ, performed with her.
(Charlotte sure has a sense of humor!)





More trips down to Phoenix to St. Joseph's Hospital,
trying to make the best of it by adding some fun on our quick doctor trips......
We hiked down to the Salt River on a potty break.
The girls thought that was so amazing!
They loved the bridges over the river.

A late night at Chili's Restaraunt in Payson with the girls!

.....after going on a 10 mile hike at Hell's Gate Trail near Payson.

We are practicing for our 24 mile hike, rim to rim in the Grand Canyon next week.

Oh, you should see my blister, ewww!

(Satya, Sierra, Sylvia(mom), Anna, Jessyka)

Can't forget our night out for the Sweet Retreat in our ward.

The women in our ward had a slumber party at a cabin.

(I think my husband is letting me get away to do all these fun things because he is getting ready to go off on a long hunting trip.)(Sylvia, Loraina, Anna)

So....we were sad because we didn't get to go to the Grahams for the Merrill Reunion,

but we had a busy weekend.......

Kalicia's cat "Ballerina" had kittens and she named them all "Cutie Pie".

She said she is the mom and spends most of the day in the garage with them.

We drove to the valley......

....and got to visit Grandpa and Grandma Burgoyne. We had a wonderful time and got to go to church with them. It was so great to see Grandpa up and around and doing so well!

Then we went and visited Grandma and Grandpa Lawlor.

Grandma Lawlor had so many fun stories to tell us.

Then off to perform at the Diamond Backs game again!

We loved having our friends come.

Collette's girls and my girls had so much fun together!

Daddy loved getting to go to another Diamond Backs game!

(Sorry, they lost this time)

UncleKeith and Aunt Sierra spoiled the girls with lots of candy again!

Oh, how I loved hanging out with childhood friends!

It was just like we were giddy little girls again!

And now Collette's girls and my girls are becoming good friends!

(Auntie) Lucia brought her family. The girls loved having their cousins there!

What a fun crowd we had sittin' together watching the game.

Our new "nanny" Loraina. The girls adore her.

Charlotte, Cassideen, and Kalicia

Grandma and Grandpa Maland, what fun to have more grandparents!

(We adopted them when we adopted Austin)

I am such a proud mom. I got such beautiful talented girls!

Kalicia, their cousin (Welcome), Charlotte

Charlotte is truly a "star" in our family.

Dancing with their Dance Matrix Team on the Diamond Back's field

in front of thousands of people for the pre-show.

We were sad the boys couldn't be there this time because it was Labor Day

and McDonalds wouldn't let them off work.

Caroline can't wait to dance with her big sisters!

Then the girls were so sad to not get to go camping at Mt Graham..........

....So we camped in our backyard instead!

We had a fire, roasted marshmellows, and foil dinners.

Holy Moly!

What a fun Family Home Evening Treat!

......at Grandma Pember's House

Even my big boys get excited to go to

Grandma and Grandpa Pember's House for FHE!

Off to Denmark they go!
My long life friend and cousin, Sharon, is headed off to Denmark with her family.
We will all miss them! Can't wait to go and visit them overseas!
(Caroline and Olivia)

This is so exciting!!!!!

So the teacher called me again and told me that Charlotte got another 100% on her spelling test! Wow!!! But, that wasn't the best part, only 4 kids in the whole class got 100%!!!!

And......the teacher was so impressed with her handwriting and how she writes it so neatly, one word under the other. She said the other kids are writing them all over the paper still.

I know it sounds funny that I am so excited about this, but she is in a normal class and not even being pulled out for Special Ed. She has been given the chance and she is excelling! We are so proud of her!

Just Caroline and I together, that never happens!

We took a day road trip to go say good bye to Sharon and Olivia.

It was so fun just the two of us!

We went out to eat together, went to the mall,

just spent time together while Charlotte was in school and........

Kalicia spent the day on the Ranch........

with a real cowboy!

(Brother Griner)

Oh, and she loved it! He said she talked the whole time and he had to keep her from playing with the cows. She is such a goofball! She sure loved her special day at the Ranch!


I love the end of summer with all the exciting changes: kids getting new teachers, gardens producing, the beautiful weather, just all the excitement as the season changes!

Kalicia is my big helper while the others are off to school.

She loves teaching her little sister! Right now she is teaching her how to walk.

We will see how that goes........

Climbing the stairs has been a success for Caroline!

She is so pleased with herself, trying to follow her sisters around!

Kalicia is getting pretty good at helping me can.

We canned a bunch of peaches and have really enjoyed them already!

And of course, the radishes......

So, the easiest thing to grow is radishes, so I love growing them because I feel like a successful gardener! But, then what do you do with them? I looked up on the Internet and found this great recipe. It's very healthy and my kids love having it for a snack with their crackers.

Radish Spread

8oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup butter

1/2 tsp. celery salt

1/8 tsp. paprika

1/8 tsp. cayenne

1/2 tsp Worcestershire

1 cup shredded radish

1/4 cup chopped onion

~mix and chill

(use on crackers, bagels, sandwiches etc.)

Our cousin, Loraina, just graduated highschool and moved up north!

It is so fun to have more family up here with us! My girls just love her!

Our summer is officially over.

It ended with a fun Tea Party with Grandma Pember!