I just had to post these pictures because they are so charming!!! My older kids were tending and devised a way to "contain" Bubby. He has learned to open the pantry and the fridge. So they put him on this bar stool and pulled him out into the family room so he couldn't reach anything. They told him to fold his arms and be quiet. He did and was so cute they couldn't resist taking pictures.

He sat nicely for a few minutes, and then could no longer contain his grief at being punished. He grew progressively distraught, to everyone's cruel amusement.

In September we took our kids to the concert series at Thanksgiving Point. We like to take them one at a time so it feels like a special "date" with mom and dad. I'll let Hyrum start by blogging about the Jon Schmidt concert:

The opening band was Checkpoint Charlie and I didn't like them too much. It was really loud and there were lots of guitars. One guys glasses flew off while he was jumping. It was really wierd.

I really liked John Schmidt. And he had a cellist there named Steve Nielsen, I think. They played Canon in D by Pachelbel, and I can play that, too. Jon Schmidt played Root Beer Rag in less than two minutes. Wow! And first he played a song I really liked called Waterfalls. They turned on the actual Thanksgiving Point waterfalls while he played so it was really awesome. I really liked his songs.

We ate dinner at Subway on the way and I tried banana peppers for the first time. I don't like them, but I liked my sandwich anyway. I liked the concert best.

The concert that dad and I went to was: Ryan Shupe and the rubber band. They were AWESOME!!!!!.

Dad was working that day and the concert started just a little after he would get there, so mom drove me and then I waited for dad just outside the gates. Dad got there at about 6:45-6:50. We then showed our tickets and found a spot at the Waterfall Ampitheatre. Right there is a snack stand at which dad and I purchased our dinner. Dad an I only got some nachos complete with cheese dip. They were okay.

Ryan Shupe and the rubber band started out by introducing the band. What happened was they would highlight a member and then play a piece that highlighted that certain member. Those pieces were pretty good. Then they played a couple of pieces that I had heard before on the radio, like Dream Big. They said that this and several others were able to make their way to YouTube, and to TV.

We don't have pictures of the Ryan Shupe concert, sorry!

This is Drew. We went to see Peter Breinholt and his band. One of the members was Ryan Shupe. The opening band was Paul Jacobson's band. They had some pretty cool songs, like Western Sky.

Peter Breinholt said that one time he had a slump where he couldn't write any songs for a long time, then he broke the slump and finished a whole song in one night. I think that's cool because I want to be a composer someday, too. I've already composed a few songs, one that I even wrote down. I had someone else play it for my music group. The bass player in Peter Breinholt's band was also the bass player in Ryan Shupe's band. They told some funny stories in between their songs and one guy, the pianist, wrote this really long song that was a bunch of 80's songs and my mom knew them all and sang with them, and a whole bunch of people got up and danced down near the stage, but I had no idea about them at all. My favorite song was just Peter Breinholt, with Ryan Shupe fiddling. I like to fiddle on my cello. I used to be in a fiddle group. I also liked going out to dinner.

Hyrum was baptized November 1st! What a cutie!!! He asked his Uncle Nate to give the talk, and Nate did a great job! Hyrum, Anne, and Drew played I Feel My Saviors Love on the cello/violin/cello. They were wonderful and I wish I could post a video of it, but we couldn't video it at all because it was a stake baptism and was in the chapel. Afterward, everyone came over to our house for lasagna, breadsticks, salad and lots of desserts. Hyrum requested the lasagna dinner. What a cutie!!!

This is me. Anne. I am the one who writes and posts all of this.

Now I am going to post about everything that everybody in my family likes.

Dad first. His favorite:

Movie: Star wars

Book: Narnia

Tv show: 24?

Food: KFC

Now for Mom. Her Favorite:

Movie: The Sound of Music

Book: Pride and Prejudice

Tv show: 24?

Food: Ice cream

YAY!!! Now it's my turn. My favorite:

Movie: Harry Potter

Book: Harry Potter

Tv show: Gilmore Girls

Food: Ice cream

Drew's turn now. His favorite:

Movie: Star Wars

Book: Carry on, Mr. Bowditch

Tv show: Cyberspace

Food:Beef

Hyrum's favorite:

Movie: Star wars

Book: Star Wars

Tv show: the Berenstain Bears

Food: Oatmeal

Emma's favorite stuff:

Movie: All

Book: Better Homes and Gardens

Tv show: All

Food: Sweets

Elsa's favorite:

Movie: Cinderella

Book: Ariel

Tv show: Does not know any

Food: Cake

Caleb, we don't know yet. After all he is only 1!

Now you must remember, I am only typing what I think is right. I am not sure.

Sincerely, Anne

I took some pictures at the Thanksgiving Point gardens this spring and they turned out so well that I had some blown up and printed on canvas. They will be fun to hang as a grouping in the family room, if I can find some wall space...

Shhhhhh! My mom doesn't know that I am writing this one. Sooner or later she'll find out, but hopefully it's later!

Mom always critiques my job and says that it needs a lot of work (Always!). So here is one that I am not sure whether or not that mom approves it, but I am going to publish this!

I have always wanted to be an author when I grow up so mom says that here is a good Chance. If anything, I MUST get my grammar and spllif (I mispelled that on purpose!) and blah, blah, blah right. My mom saylkjl jksjbm sieowiulkb sjlkjalkjdlfka;llsdkjg;laksdjlfkajsdlkjflaskopuj

l;alskjdlkjlskjdlfkjlsjlkjl

lksdfslkjdjflk ljs;fjalslkjf

Does anybody have any Idea what I tyed(supposed to be Typed!)

Now, I am going to post about the time that we went to Manti, for the Mormon Miracle Pageant.

We got to my great-grandparents house,in Fairvew about 2:00-2:30, and we went straight inside. While we were playing downstairs, my little brother Caleb (shown in the picture)had managed to get outside, and was playing. Their house has a well, and they have a metal plate covering the well, so that little kids won't fall in. Anyway, in the hot summer sun, it was really hot (it is metal!) and Caleb stood on it. My parents had to take Caleb to the emergency room in Mt. Pleasant, wich is about 5 min. away. It put a damper on the whole vacation.
When we went, we went on a tuesday night. It was June 17, 2008.

We stayed at Their house, because they live in Fairvew, and Manti is only about 25 min. from Fairvew.

It was really cool, because it was the first time that any of us had ever been ( except for mom, she had been with her Young Womens group a couple of times!) About 10 min. after it started, all of us fell asleep. Only mom, dad and I stayed up for the whole thing. My brother Drew woke up when all the fire comes, and the mountains move, and all of that jazz.

We got to my great-grandparents house about midnight, and we were all super tired. We went straight to bed, and slept until 5:00 in the morning. We were all super tired, but we had TONS of fun.

Now for more pictures, the best part (just for you Mel!)

Hi! It's Anne again. My mom wants me to post about the chores that we have to do. When we get up in the morning I have to milk, and my brothers, Drew and Hyrum, have to do farm chores, which consists of feeding and watering all of our animals, except the cat. First they have to feed and water our chicks. Then they have to get our goats hay, and clean out and refill their water buckets. Next comes our laying chickens who have to have scratch grain, layer grain (for protein,) and oyster shell (if you want paper thin shells, don't feed your chickens oyster shell.)

Then we go inside and clean our rooms.

After we clean our rooms, we have to do our chores. Weekly we rotate between vacuuming the living room and hall, doing the bathrooms, and dusting the living room. On Fridays, we have what we call Friday Chores. It's when we do our deep clean of the house. Whoever vacuums has to vacuum the whole house, and sweep our hardwood flooring. Whoever does the bathrooms has to sweep and mop, clean the toilet, and scrub the bathtub. Whoever does dusting has to dust everything that collected dust during the week. Also, we have to do the baseboards and the door jams and the mudroom and the doors and the blinds and the sliding glass door and the mirrors and the windows.

Then we have breakfast. When breakfast is over, we clean the kitchen, whether or not washing is included. Also, did I mention that our dishwasher doesn't work? Yep, we're old-fashioned. We wash by hand.

After breakfast, we have to practice our instruments. I practice the Violin, and Emma does also. Drew and Hyrum play the Cello. We all play the Piano.

After all those chores, Sep. thru May we have school.

In Summer, we do outside work. like we work on our barn, our plants,ect.

My Dad says we don't have enough chores because we fight to often. I disagree. I think that we have more that enough chores. What do you think?

My mom says that all this work is good for us, and we should do it well. She uses the motto of the Spencer W. Kimball to teach us this, "Do it, Do it right, Do it right now."

This is me, Anne, with Jefferson, one of our new baby goats. They were born July 4th, which is where they got their names. This is one of Silly's twins. His brother is named Adams since Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both died July 4th, 1826. Our other nanny goat, Nessa, had a single baby, Caramel. My mom wanted to name Caramel "Bloody Heck" since he was the third boy and we really wanted another doe. Here are some more pictures.

I am excited to start this blog, despite the coercion (Mel) it took to get me going! I am definitely going to rely on my older kids to keep it updated, though. It will be so much fun to share our lives with our far-flung family!

Blog updates will often be my childrens' writing assignments, so please feel free to comment on unusual grammar, spelling, etc... They LOVE to have their writing critiqued!