For Grandma Eberhard

Terrible Twos Photo Shoot

I took Will out to the railroad tracks in town to take some two year old pictures. I took 120 pictures and he looked and smiled at the camera in one. He looked at the camera and frowned in two and........

......tried to throw a rock at me 3 or 4 times and.......

...... gave me a cute pouty face in about 5 of them and.......

.....acted like I wasn't even their in about 40 of them and........

.....walked away from me in the rest.

Samuel cooperated!

Favorite Holiday in November

Happy Birthday Will!!

Will had his second birthday on the 7th of this month. He is growing up so fast. He is a very sweet and kind kid, gives great kisses and hugs, and has a very contagious laugh about 50 % of the time. The other 50% of the time he has his own mind and know exactly what he wants and no one and nothing is going to get in his way. I suppose this come from being the youngest of 4. He has learned he has to stand his ground or get run over. Will is a great joy and I am grateful for the two years he has been with us and all the things that he has taught me.

Second birthdays in our house mean a room full of balloons from dad. Will LOOOOOOOVED his balloons. It was the quietest Sunday I have had in a long time. The kids went in the room, shut the door so the balloons couldn't escape and played all day.

Enjoying a beautiful Indian Summer.

The first week in November was beautiful. The weather was so nice in the afternoon that we were able to go out and ride bikes and scooters.

I spent a lot of time sweep up pine needle that were in the driveway. Will had a great time jumping in them.

We had a Happy Halloween

Rodney's parents were here a few day before Halloween so we had a party and carved pumpkins. Carving pumpkins is not my favorite activity but it wasn't as bad as I thought. My kids must be growing up. A great time was had by all.

Rodney wanted to be the scariest Frankenstein ever. Of course he waited until three hours before we were leaving to go trick or treating to start on his costume. In town where you can not just run down to Walmart and buy things that you need Rodney is a pain on Halloween. He turned out ok but his big block of wood head that was chinked to his head fell off once and almost hit an unsuspecting trick or treater. Can anyone say lawsuit? I also only had white face paint and so I added food coloring to it for his face. Once we applied the makeup I washed my finger and it was stained green. I was hoping that Rodney was going to be stained green too. Unfortunately it all came off.

Jack was a very cute Harry Potter. Thanks to a Groupon his costume only cost $15.

Will was suppose to be dressed as a devil which if you know him personal was a great pick. Instead he ended up dressed as a very stubborn two year old which is a even better match.

Gracie decided she wanted to be a black cat. We had a great time taking pictures of her acting like a cat.

Samuel was a very handsome looking cowboy.

This picture was taken before we ever went trick or treating. He was having such a great time running around shooting every one it just wore him out.

Samuel was debating several weeks before Halloween about being Zoro apparently running around jabbing everyone with a sword is just as tiring as shooting them.

Rachel's Ramblings

Posting without pictures is something I don't often do but I have been so busy I don't think I have taken a picture in weeks. After reading this you might understand why my posts should have pictures. I spent the last several weeks getting ready for Relief Society Souper Saturday. One of my favorite days of the year but usually I am helping out cutting vinyl and getting other projects ready and so it keeps me very busy. I have found that when I thought that I would have more time because the kids are in school I was mistaken. I seem to have less. I think on average I get in the car and drive into town 3 times a day. Town is really only five minutes away but it takes so much time to load kids into the car. I have found though that I have had a little time for exercising which is helping me have a better attitude about life. I had a funny night last night. The phone rang at 4:00 am. Of course I jumped right out of bed worried that something horrible had happened because who calls at 4 o'clock in the morning. I looked at the caller id but the number did not register I was after all half asleep. I said Hello and my dad said "Rachel" My heart went racing. I knew that my parents were traveling to Germany and of course all the dreadful things that could have happened that would cause my father to call in the middle of the night ran through my head. Then he said "Wash the Potatoes". What? We had a conversations about potatoes two days earlier. Did he realize it was the middle of the night? Yes he realized he was checking to make sure his cell phone was working all the way on the other side of the world. Thanks dad for the wake up call. Rodney and I could not get back to bed for a half an hour because we couldn't stop laughing. Thanks dad for the heart attack and I will make sure I wash the potatoes.

Weekend Road Trip

We took a really fast trip to Utah this weekend to see conference. Rodney's friend got tickets so that we could go with him. Notice in the picture that Gracie does not have her seat belt on. I think I told her at least 50 times to put in on this weekend.

My brother Travis was actually in Boise on Friday and Saturday so we stopped and had dinner with him on our way past Boise. We ate at a Bask restaurant. The food was really good and there was a lot of it. (Yes Rodney is a funny color, No he is not sick he was photoshoped into this photo. Travis has the photo the waiter took with all of us on his phone.)

As many trip as we have taken to Utah in the five years that we have lived in Cascade we hardly ever stop at the rest stops. We did this time and the kids thought is was a blast. They loved having some grass to run around on. We have no grass in our yard and think it is a real luxury.

Will is not the easiest child at this time in his life and threw a tantrum when ever we tried to put him in the car, hold his hand, put him in a shopping cart, stop him from bolting across a parking lot, or anything else contrary to his plans.

This is me waiting for our friends at the Utah Capital building. It was such a beautiful day. The weather was perfectly pleasant and conference was great.
This is Rodney in the parking lot for the General Authorities and other leaders of our church.

If your wondering how we parked in here Rodney's friend has the last name of Monson.
Here we are at the conference center.
Here is a picture of the podium from our seats. It was really cool being this close and actually watching the speakers in person. I have been in the conference center once before for conference but was clear at the back and ended up watching the big screen instead of the person speaking. Thanks Scotty for sharing such a wonderful experience with us.

Happy Birthday Gracie

Gracie celebrated her 7th birthday yesterday. What a blessing and a joy this little girl is to me. I love having someone to make cute things for and paint finger nails with. Gracie is a great big sister and for the most part plays nicely with others and trys to include the little boys in the things she is doing. She is a little feisty but I suppose with three brothers she has to be. Gracie love school and one day will learn to get up and move fast as it is she now loves to lounge in bed for 15 minutes before she can get moving. I love my little Princess Gracie.

We had a toe sock day for Gracie's birthday.

Enjoying a Nice Fall.

The weather has been really nice and we have been trying to get out and enjoy it because we know it will not last. We went to a framers market on Saturday and got some pears and pumpkins. We also got to go on a hay ride and enjoy some bluegrass music. What a nice way to spend a Saturday morning.

We also went to a concert in the park last week. This is something we used to do a lot but don't have as many opportunities to do it here is Cascade. Will is a dancer and he just can't help but move when he hears music playing. He had a ball and stole the show because everyone was watching him dance.

A visit from Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa Eberhard came to visit for the kids birthdays.

Grandpa spent some time teaching Will how to shave.

We made a trip to Riggins and tried to find some blackberries to pick. This is the boys taking a break by the Salmon River. We didn't find any blackberries but we had fun exploring Riggins.

Grandpa brought a bow and arrow and we all had a try at shooting the cardboard box.

Happy 10th Birthday

Jack celebrated his 10th birthday on the 19th. It is so hard to believe that 10 years have passed since he was born. Jack is a great kid. He does very well is school and absorbs information and remember everything that he hears unless it is directions for doing a chore. Jack is a very compassionate and is loving and kind to his little brothers and sisters. He does like to tease though and does plenty of pestering too. Jack likes to talk a lot and is always asking how things work, or why things are the way they are. I am now famous in our house for saying "Google it" because I only know the answer to about 1 in 4 questions that he asks me. I love Jack a lot and can't imagine our family without him.

Some Happenings

This is Samuel on his first day of school. He was needing a little speech therapy and so he goes to school on Wednesday and Thursday mornings for three hours. He really likes it and Will and I enjoy our mornings were it is just the two of us.

Will is learning to help around the house even when his help is not so helpful.

Rodney and I went with his brother and sister and their spouses the McCall for dinner one night. It was nice to have an evening without the kids and we tried out a new restaurant in town. We ate some great BBQ and had a wonderful time.

Will and Samuel are really bonding with so much time alone now that the other kids are in school.

We drove to Sweet, Idaho for a stake dance. It was a cowboy theme which if you know Rodney had him hooked even though it was over an hour drive. Rodney was driving and made Will car sick and he threw up in the car and so he ran around in his diaper.