Soccer!

Isabelle and Soren have started soccer. The first games a couple of weeks ago we had a couple of cousins along (Marin and Stuart), which made it great fun. And helped in the chaos of Soren's many meltdowns. Yesterday was Soren's third game and it couldn't have been more different than the first. No crying when someone took the ball away, no falling to the ground when he it wasn't his turn on field, and no wandering off. Now I've just got to get him to focus on the game, instead of running down the field and smiling and waving at us. He did get a goal though! It was the most perfect moment: he dribbled the ball down, got past a couple of kids and kicked it right in. We all clapped and you could hear his little three-year old voice shout: "I did it!"

First Day of School!

Today was the first day of school. The girls were super excited and Soren asked very sweetly, "can I be five?" after the girls explained that he couldn't come with them to school until he was five years old. They had a great day and I hope the enthusiasm continues for the next 9 months!!

Isabelle's Baptism

Isabelle was baptized by her father on August 6. She was very proud and ready. The day was perfect, lots of family and friends so supportive and loving. I hope she remembers this day always.

The big trip part 2

So still on our way to Idaho, we stopped also to see Temple Square in Salt Lake ....and meet up with Tena (the Jones' used to live near us in Spring, and have moved to Wash.)and her two shy kids here :-)

It was so nice to show the kids such a historic and beautiful Temple! They loved it and were appropriately in awe...



So then we got to Idaho! And I only have a few pictures, since all were taken on my or Brad's phone because we have this horrible tendency to forget our camera (which is pretty old anyway, so we aren't overly enthusiastic about bringing it anywhere!). The cousins all got along immediately. Like family :-) Soren and Liah here are trying out the mattress the girls room (where three girls slept on, then three others on bunkbed right beside it and another girl slept in a cozy little window cubby. Not once did they get to sleep before 10pm...)

Yellowstone Park! So overwhelmingly beautiful. We have fund looking at the geysers and mud pots....
Then checking out the main geyser attraction, Old Faithful. I have to say I was most impressed with how many people were there, and how generally calm and quiet they were while waiting for the geyser to go off.


The day got a little long for Soren, who fell asleep for lunch.....

A hike up to Fairy Falls proved to be way more "adventurous" than it first looked. Our kids aren't used to actual hikes, first of all, so it was a little tough. Then add mosquitoes and you have a trail of horrors! It was also SO beautiful, I miss hiking....


At the falls we managed to get a picture of the fam plus a cousin (Natalie). Soren is FREAKING out because he at one point got a mosquito in his eye briefly, and he wouldn't open his eyes thereafter. Or walk.... sigh... Clark's on my back, you can't see him here. He was an easy tote.While waiting for the rest of the hiking crew, some of the kids took a dip in this perfect river....

At Paralee's, a rare moment with the cat. She was smartly absent most of the time her house was overrun with relatives!Paralee got the kids a fun bouncy ball thing that you can put someone inside and roll them down the hill! So fun. Need to get one...

Cousins!!! It was so wonderful to have all the Duerichen cousins in one place. What a blessing it was that we could all arrange to come together.

I love this picture of Averi and Clark, such happy cuties!!
On the way home, a stop to see one of my oldest friends, Mari (we started out as roommates freshman year of college, TWENTY years ago. I can't believe it....) and we've been friends ever since
A stop for burgers and ice cream. I love the back of Clark's bald head :-)

The big trip!

In July we had a wonderful trip to Idaho. It was our first big road trip as a family, so I honestly had very low expectations of how it was going to turn out :-) It was truly a great adventure, sometimes loathsome but mostly grand. On our way to Idaho we stopped by Wilson Arch in southern Utah and hiked it. It was so much fun--the kids never get to climb anything around here, so it was quite an accomplishment for their little selves. And the rest of the trip, Soren would see hills and mountains and request "can we climb a mountain?":



Then to Four Corners, where the kids laid in all four states at the same time! (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona)


We made a stop at an old childhood friend of Brad's, Brian Beutler and his family. It was such a nice visit and I love this picture of us right before we headed on up to Pocatello, ID our final destination. Everyone looks so bright and happy. Right before, we were chasing down kids to get in the picture and it was feeling rather roasty outside, but it all came together for one flash of a moment...

San Antonio

Summer catch up! So over the July 4th weekend we went to San Antonio with our friends Jake and Kelly and their kids. We went "cabining," which is the correct and ironclad nomenclature for camping outdoors, but in cabins :-) . They were cute little log cabins with just beds and a desk, but most importantly, air conditioning. Maybe we're light-weights but with four kids and the HOT Texas nights, we were roughing it already... Loads of fun, and a good preparation for the much longer drive we would have a few weeks later going to Idaho. Here's some pics...

Clark and the Alamo!!! Educational and totally crowded, it was fascinating, and sad, to imagine what happened here.

At Natural Bridge Caverns, Soren hiked up this huge dinosaur, red-faced and delighted...

Sans and actual camera, this is the best shot we got of what it was like inside the caverns. It was really unbelievable down there! The rock formations created by water over so much time was pure art. The kids had a fun and spooky time :-)

Family shot after the caves. Clarky always a good sport hanging out on my back!

A fav moment outside our cabins, Soren and Layla playing a game with a name I can't remember. Love Layla's pj's and googles. They were so cute taking turns (and getting closer and closer to goals to make their shots)

Outside one of the cabins, Isabella and Cora smothering their friend Maria

Our last night we drove up to Austin to see the bats under a bridge that come out in droves (I'm sure there's an actual word for a group of bats, but droves sounds good). I didn't get a good shot, but it was really fun to see...

...and just to hang out on the grass....

...And roll down the hill on the grass and scrape your elbow on the gravel at the end of the grassy hill! Yes, that is all his blood! Scary looking but not too bad (he was pretty tough as usual).
And lastly, we went on the Riverwalk. Hot for a boatride, but we did, scrunching our kids up in a row and enjoyed the cool scenery of San Antonio. Definitely going back!

Catch up

Here's a quick summary of the last two months. Bought a house, moved in, Isabelle got the stomach flu, then Brad and I got it, Clark had roseola (high fever for three days, then benign rash), Cora broke out in mysterious hives for 3+ days. All while moving boxes, unpacking, trying to be create a place for everything and putting everything in its place!! It's been 6 weeks sine we moved, but we feel like we've been here forever. It's a beautiful house and we feel really good here. We're still organizing things and trying not to feel the pressure to have everything all set and perfect right NOW. Sigh... School's out, so everyone is home and asking to go to the pool every minute. I don't blame them, today's high, for instance is 97. I really really really have a hard time with the summers here :-) We're planning fun things for the summer, though, a weekend with some friends cabin-camping in San Antonio, a big trip to Idaho to have a siblings-with-kids get-together (although hopefully we can get some of the siblings-with-no-kids-yet to come too!). Isabelle will go to a theater camp again and Cora's got an art camp she'll be attending as well that she is really excited about.
We'll start at a new school in the fall, which is really hard, since the girls really liked, and of course are use to, their old school. I went to visit their new one and felt all the apprehensions of a kid going to a new place and felt so empathetic to their little selves I wanted to cry!! But it's a good school, they will see some familiar faces of kids that are in our ward, since at least the move didn't take us away from our church family!

So it's a stressful, good time here. Clark is crawling and still so happy all the time and trying to grow some hair in addition to all his teeth! 6 1/2 so far :-) Soren has started to be less crazy, although we'd really like this new maturity to also include a more completely potty-trained little boy... Isabelle and Cora are just getting so old! They can do so many things now, getting independent and proud of their accomplishments...

Yesterday we went blueberry picking. I don't know why it's so great, even sweating in the sun it just feels so good to look through the rows of tall bushes and spot beautiful bunches of nice fat blue blueberries and plop them into your bucket. The kids just loved it. Soren couldn't help wandering and finding his own places to pick, although he always came back when I called him (a new development in his ability to obey the "come here" command!) Cora said, "I'm so glad I'm alive." When I asked why she said because she gets to pick blueberries.

Look at Clarky's little red face! This was 9:30am. We didn't stay very long, it was just too hot. Next time we'll head out a couple of hours earlier :-)