Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Back to School

The kids started back to school on August 15th this year. Railey is in 5th grade this year. She is now in middle school and has a bunch of different classes. She likes it. She is excited this year to have a locker. She thinks that is "awesome". She was happy to go back to school. She likes school and was getting bored of being home every day. The boys are now in 1st grade. This year they are all in different classes. So far they are liking it a lot. I think it is good for them to be separated for a while during the day to let them be individuals instead of just being 1 of 3. It is challenging to figure out who has to do what for homework but we are getting it somewhat figured out. All 3 of their teachers do things very differently. I am pleased with who they have for teachers. They are all really good. It is so crazy that all the kids are gone all day. It is very strange to be home alone during the day. It is very nice and quiet though. I can get a lot done it a lot less time now. I am enjoying it. The baby will be here before we know and that will change things somewhat but it will still be nice. I find myself thinking that if I chose to I could actually take a nap with the baby. Imagine that! A nap has been a long time coming! The Boys and Dad on the first day of school
Ranger with his Batman lunch box
Ryder with his Cars lunch box
Robby with his SpongeBob lunch box
Railey on the first day of school

Railey Turns 10

Railey turned 10 years old on August 4th. Its hard to believe she is already that old. The years are just flying by. She really wanted a cake with a deer or elk on it. She loves hunting and looking for animals. She is such an animal lover and says she wants to be a vet when she grows up. That wouldn't surprise me a bit if that actually happened. She is a smart girl. Happy Birthday Railey!! We love you!!

No More Tonsils for Railey

On July 11th, Railey had surgery to remove her tonsils and adenoids. She has always gotten sore throats a lot. Many times it is strep and sometimes it is just infection that gets caught in her throat. We thought maybe she needed to have it done. Her doctor said her tonsils were huge and had evidence of chronic infections and said they needed to be removed. She was pretty miserable for about 8 or 9 days after. We hope that now she will have a better winter, and not have to suffer through. Plus with the new baby coming we don't need any more sickness. I think she will feel much better all winter.

Bradford Reunion

We had our Bradford Reunion back in July. It was a lot of fun. We went camping on the Elk Mountain. It was nice to sit back and relax for a few days. The kids enjoyed running free. Keri and Gerald brought a pinata for the kids which they loved. We played games and sat around and visited. We had lots of good food. A lot of the kids carved their own walking stick with their pocket knives. It was a great weekend. Grandma throwing darts
Grandpa throwing darts
Railey with her walking stick
Kids looking at all the treasures from the pinata
Pinata

Clay Springs Fire

Back on June 27th, we had a pretty scary experience. I had taken the kids to the Resevoir in Delta for a picnic and to go swimming for the afternoon. We were having a great time. I noticed a huge smoke cloud way out in the distance and pointed it out to Railey. I wondered where the fire was. Within just a few minutes I got a call on my cell phone from the emergency dispatch at the sheriff's office. It was a recording telling me there was a fire by Oak City and that we needed to be prepared in case it got worse and possibly had to evacuate. I got the kids out of the water and we headed home. We got almost to Oak City and you could see the fire and how big it was. We watched the planes and helicopters dumping fire retardant and water and couldn't believe how huge the fire was. We got home a few minutes later and my phone rang again saying we were having mandatory evacuations and that we needed to leave Oak City. We hurried and packed a few important items and paper documents and few favorites items. The kids were hysterical. They were so scared. The whole town was just black smoke. We got in our cars and headed out of town. We went to the stake center in Delta where the Red Cross was there and took care of everyone until we knew what was going to happen. We ended up staying in a motel in Delta for the night. The next day we were allowed to return home. As we drove into town it was unbelievable how black everything was. No homes were lost, which is truly a miracle. There are many that should have burned. Power lines were burned down. It looked so desolate and it still does. There were news crews all over and fire people everywhere. Two of our neighbors are firefighters here in Oak City and were badly burned. They are doing very well now and are recovering well. For a couple weeks our little town was quite crazy. The fire ended up burning over a 100,000 acres. Oak City has since been preparing for floods. Our entire mountain is burned and we are not allowed to even drive up there anymore. Its sad. But we are very grateful for the protection that was with us. These picture were taken from our house.