Trafalga

I wanted to have a special last day before school starts with Alina. So I took her and her best friend Brooklin to Trafalga. The highlight of the outing was when Alina and Brooklin went on the bumper boat rides. They were on one boat and Olivia and I on another. Alina was steering and didn't know really what she was doing and she kept steering their boat right into the fountain. They got completely soaked. Alina kept trying to get out of the fountain, but she was just going in circles. I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants. Alina then got scared that she wouldn't ever get out of the boat and she stopped steering altogether. I couldn't reach her steering wheel to help her. She had to be coaxed for quite awhile by the guy running the ride to push the steering button again. They were drenched and not happy. It took awhile to dry off, but they did.

Olivia was a little daredevil. I took her on the roller coaster, the mini tidal wave and the frogger and all the baby rides. She even played laser tag with me and I came in 3rd place carrying a baby. We had such a great day.

FHE Fashion Show

"Welcome to the jungle, we've got fun and games." Is what you heard as our kids walked down the red carpet to model their new school clothes. Then it was followed by "I wanna be a billionaire so freakin' bad." The kids danced and wore a pink boa. Greta did splits in the air and then landed on the ground still in splits. Austin had some awesome dance moves and Alina was graceful as she always is when dancing. Even little Olivia moved to the beat. Our new theme for the school year is "Be of Good Cheer," and they certainly were last night.

Camping in Kamas

Our camping trip was almost ruined because we couldn't find anywhere to camp. Luckily my brother in law Kevin knew the perfect place in Kamas. It was great, no running water, but we had a stream, the perfect company and it was so beautiful up there.

Alina got to open more presents for her birthday. This is what she does when she's done listening, she puts her hand over her ears and says "blah, blah, blah." Apparently she was done talking about the presents, she wanted to open them.

Here is Olivia ticked off and dirty, this is normal for her.

We call Alina the bug whisperer. She can catch flies in mid air. She'll touch any type of creepy crawly thing and it doesn't bother her. One summer she got stung 3 times because she kept trying to keep pet bees in nerd boxes. Here she is using her new birthday present collecting large ants and who knows what else.

Tess and Kevin brought Camo, all the kids were so happy to play with him. He's so big he'd often knock Olivia over, but she loved him.

Shannon, Cameron, Kevin, Tessa, Melinda.

Olivia trying to eat pine cones. I swear most of her diet is dirt, no wonder she only weighs 18lbs and is almost 16 months old.

Kevin knows how to take a picture! At least my dad is smiling a little bit.

The first day Alina went through 3 pairs of clothes because she kept getting them wet. She just wouldn't put on her swimsuit, silly girl.

Carson covered in dirt.

Olivia covered in dirt and throwing rocks in the water.

Cam sneaking pics of me.

Grandpa and Livvy Lou.

Me and Tessa.

We dared Austin to lay down in the water, it was cold! Love his expression!

Tessa, Greta, and Alina had a contest on who could hold their breath the longest.

Alina ticked off at me because I wanted to get a picture of how dirty she was. Gotta love that girl.

Happy Birthday Alina!

This little girl had a birthday on August 10th. She's five now and starting kindergarten on September 1st. Oh how time flies! Here are the top 10 reasons why we love Alina.

1. She's always smiling.
2. She squeals with delight at the littlest things.
3. She's always telling us how much she loves us.
4. She makes up her own words like "yummy yumscious and sunjock."
5. She can eat massive amounts of candy and not get sick.
6. She's very imaginative and that imagination is going to get her places.
7. She teases like no other.
8. She loves to play with her family and never wants to stop.
9. She sings made up church songs to her stuffed animals.
10. She's the one we can count on to be happy and excited about things.

She chose mac and cheese and hot dogs much to our dismay for her birthday dinner.

We got her a Jasmine barbie. I love this picture, it captures her excitement.


She had a princess themed birthday party on the 12th and invited 19 people.

Here's the group of 19. If you notice there are some older girls there. Three of the 19 are some of my Young Women that she loves. She insisted on inviting them and they came and are so sweet for doing so. Thanks Shay, Kortney, and Brooklyn.


I had great plans with this princess cake, it was going to be one of my masterpieces. But at the last minute Alina decided she wanted to make it with her sister and brother. They did a really good job. On the side of it I wrote "Alina Mae" since that's what we call her. None of my kids realized Mae is spelled the way it is, they think I spelled it wrong and refuse to believe me. Go figure. :)


And at the end of the party Olivia was so pooped out from all the attention that she just laid on the kitchen floor. It was a great party. Happy Birthday Alina Mae!

Girls Camp-"Happily Ever After"

Girls camp, how do I explain girls camp? Here's one word FUN! I had the privilege of being the camp director and what a lot of work it was but so much fun as well. We camped in a million dollar cabin up Sundance, we were pampered. Although it rained most of the time and foiled our plans we still had a great time. There were 30 girls and I loved being able to get to know them more. Here is just a few pics of all the fun we had, I can't wait for next year!

The Bishopric had shirts that said "Princess Guard" on the back.

Bro. Moser trying on all the props for our fractured fairytale we had to create. We had so much fun planning it, probably too much fun. Here's the rundown.

We had Bro Backus play Rapunzel who just wanted a good hair day and to not have to deal with all that hair. His wish came true because I (in the youth size Incredibles costume) made his wish come true. He came out in a face mask and bald.

Ariel sang "Look at this rope, isn't it neat, wouldn't it be great if I could jump with two feet." And abracadabra she's got legs and she can jump rope. (Ariel played by Hilary)

Sleeping beauty couldn't sleep, she needed her stuffed duck, so I supplied it. (Sleeping Beauty played by Michelle Moser)

Snow White decided she didn't want Prince Charming, she actually wanted a wee little white pasty leprechaun. I provided her 6 foot something husband. (Snow White-Michelle again)

Every time a wish came true we would all say "that's incredible." Now the girls say it to me all the time. You had to be there.

Kianna Smith did mine and Hil's hair. At one point mine was sticking straight up like Hilary's. We had so much gel in our hair.

Cute Sydney Triggs who turned 12 right after camp. She was so fun. I'm so glad she's a Beehive because I'm her advisor! The Beehives rocked camp, they knew how to have a good time. Sometimes I forgot I was supposed to be a leader, I just wanted to play right along with them all the time.




Another one of my cute Beehives Bella who leaves to Miamaids in a month. We were playing Minute to Win it on our one day of sunshine.

Jessica and Sydney hula hoop queens.

When Dads Dress Little Girls

When Cameron dresses the girls they always come out looking like this.


Notice the two different patterns of stripes, and that they don't even match. I asked Cam why he thought they did match and he said, "because they both have stripes!" At least she's still cute in it. That's her favorite necklace, she has to wear it every day. We have a little fashion queen on our hands, even if Cam has no sense of style at all.