Picking apples

A friend of ours found a place where we could pick a bunch of fruit for free.  We had a blast harvesting the fruit and I had a lot of fun learning how to make applesauce, can pears, and make grape jelly. I didn't realize how many apples we ended up with but it was enough to make somewhere around 70 quarts of applesauce.  

Back to school!

School has started again. I must admit that I was glad that school was starting. At least I thought I was until I took Natalie to her class and started to cry. The girls started on August 20th and Steven started on September 4th. Steven was so excited to start that it was a little bit hard to wait.  







The theme this year for school is "kids are super heroes". The teachers were dressed up and greeting the kids on the first day of school. Jeremy wasn't sure what to think when spiderman(?) jumped into the picture.



Emma wanted to participate in pictures too!

Varbel Family Reunion 2013

 This year we were able to attend Scott's family reunion for his moms side of the family.  We went to a church campground in Washington. The weekend was full of fun things to do but I think everyones favorite thing was playing in the lake. 



1...2...3...Jump.



I said look at the camera and she popped her little hip out and smiled.





Cheese!







Natalie loved the water.



Grandpa and miss Emma



Uncle Aaron and Cousin Jackson



Cousin Aubree



Cousin Kylee



Scott and his cousin Aaron keeping the babies entertained.



Uncle Brett and Aunt Jess took Malaya out on the paddle boat.

Miss Malaya showing off her swimming skills. It was hard to keep a life jacket on the kid :)

Grandma Darla and Grandpa Dee took Steven and Emma out on the boat.

Emma loved riding in the boat

Cousin Hayden

On our extremely long trip home we stopped at a rest stop and there was an owl drinking out of a puddle on the sidewalk. It was there for a couple of minutes but as soon as I was able to get my camera it flew away

Music Boot Camp

This Summer a lady in the ward did a music boot camp. Everyday for two weeks the kids and I went.She taught the kids about composers and music history as well as tempo and rhythm. Malaya even learned to play the recorder.  

 

 

 

24th of July

I know I am a couple months behind but it was a busy summer. For the 24th colored some pancake mix and let the kids design their own pancakes.

 Then we went to the parade and the kids had so much fun seeing all the floats and of course chasing the candy.

Swimming lessons

This year all four of the kids took swimming lessons. Emma and I took a mommy and me class and had a lot of fun. They all did a great job and are really becoming quite the fish.

Zion National Park

Scott and I decided a while back to try and see a National Park each summer. This summer was beautiful Zions. We did all the research we could and thought it would be a great time to go. Unfortunately there was a heat wave and our coolest day was 110 degrees and it didn't cool off much at night. If I can ever convince him to go again we will go in March or October. Things were further complicated by the fact that we had a party of 15 people. We just couldn't seem to get moving until about 11 which is not really the best time to go hiking.



The kids wanted walking sticks and their sweet uncles helped them find some great ones.



This was pretty much her face the whole trip. 

Sisters

My mom loves Zion's. I think she had fun hiking it with the grandkids

My in-laws joined in on the fun.

Since we got a late start it was nap time for miss em.  She screamed for the first 10 min. in the pack and then fell asleep

This boy had so much fun.

Steven went with the boys hiking and loved it. 

My dad was the first on in the water and the last one out. I have to admit that it was so nice on such a hot day.

Eating snacks after playing in the narrows.

Mt. Carmel Scenic Drive.

We stopped in Kolob on our way home.  It was beautiful.