Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Busy Busy Fall Sept 09

I thought I would borrow Marcie's idea of putting a picture of my busy schedule in as a visual as to why I'm such a slacker on my blog. Sadly, my camera is failing and I am having a very difficult time getting clear shots from it.
Here are some pictures of some of the great times we have had this month.
~Ivan and Debbie Young invited us to go spend Labor Day with them up at Lake Tahoe.~
We all had a wonderful time. It is truly amazing how beautiful it is up there. Thanks to Missy their daughter for taking all of these great pictures for us. There was a pretty fierce volleyball game going on between the young and the old. Some how Jake got on the "old" team.
Our cute, not so little, Maddie
Super Sam!
Mom and the little boys.

~I just had to throw this shot of my washing machine in.~
I came in the other day and this is where I found it. I really think it is time for a new one. It has managed to ruin my new wood floors with it's little dance.
~We were excited for Jake to make the high school soccer team this year.~
We only have a varsity team and he was disappointed last year when he didn't make it as a freshman. Thankfully that didn't hold him back this year. He is second string so he doesn't get a lot of playing time but it sure is fun to watch him when he does.
He is the one in the middle in the top photo and the one on the far left in the bottom photo.

Our high school's new artificial turf track and field.
The boys are very excited to get to play on it this year instead of their gopher infested practise field.
~On Sept 8th we received very sad news that a friend of ours, son had been killed in Iraq.~
We had known Thomas Lyons during his teenage years and it was such a shock to hear that he had died in a truck bombing in Iraq. There was a wonderful out pouring of love and support for his family both at church as well as in the community.

~I decided to get busy and clean out the garage finally.~
It's been over a year. When we did the remodel everything was just piled in there and it has been growing and growing out there. Now that we are getting ready to convert it into living space I decided I had better get it cleaned out. While out there the little boys had a great time making a car (I think) out of one the old boxes.
~Roger took time off so we could go to my cousin Dylan's wedding.~
It was suppose to be a couple get away for the two of us but what does he do when we get there?
Jump over some tracks and pull his calf muscles and tendons. He ended up staying in the hotel pretty much all day while I attended the wedding and other stuff going on. Poor thing. Thankfully he healed up pretty quickly. He was in a "boot" and crutches for a week and a half, then by two weeks was walking with out help.

~Maddie turns 13! ~
Madisyn received just what she wanted!
A new set of scriptures with a bag to carry them in.

~Jake's induction to National Honor Society ~
The proud Papa
As of right now Jake is first in his class academically. We are of course hoping he can keep it up and be valedictorian but he has very stiff competition, luckily she is pretty cute and he wants to impress her with his great academic prowess.
The proud Mama
What is with those shoes! Actually, he had already been at the school for soccer practise so he just quickly changed into dress clothes before the ceremony. I guess he forgot the dress shoes.

~The last fruit on the trees!~
Conference weekend we finally decided to pick the apples. An older lady in our ward told us that many apples don't get sweet until after the first frost. That certainly seems to be true with this tree. The fruit is amazing after the frost comes. I have been busy making apples sauce and pie filling with them. Roger and the kids have been enjoying them with their lunches.
The kids were not too excited to be out in the cold but if Dad could be out there with his bum leg they certainly could go help! It didn't take long for them to have fun anyway, Jake thought it would be great to play apple baseball.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Nick's Wedding 8/29/09

I was happy I was able to make a quick (10 hour drive) trip down to Manti UT for my cousin Nick's wedding. Although in college I went to the Manti Pageant a few times I had never had the opportunity to go inside.
I was able to get there (barely) early enough to be able to go through a session. It is a live session and the rooms are amazing. I wonder if all of the murals are original? It was so worth everything to go and spend a few hours in that beautiful building.
-I started off by leaving my recommend at home and things only seemed to get worse until the moment I sat down for the Endowment Session.
Picture of Allison, Dad, Eric, Claryce and Shurell out on the beautiful grounds.
This turned out to be such a nice picture of Mom and Dad.

The Bride and Groom. Nick and Gina


1st Day of School 8/24/09

Ooops, somehow I missed this one. I already put in my journaling so it will just have to be out of order. One of the things that bugs me when blogging is not being able to insert a picture where I want it or being able to copy and paste text. Ugh.
Sam, my new little 7 year old 2nd grader. Sam leaves home @ 8:03 am

YEA!

The Kunzler Family's favorite day of the year has arrived!
OK, so maybe it is just MOM's favorite day of the year. I know the kids like it too, secretly anyway. They are so excited to get back to see their friends, not have to do boring chores all day, not have to go on big long boring drives across state lines, you know all that boring summer stuff. My big bad 15 year old sophomore.
I love these full body shots so I can see how much they are growing. In this house I do one on the front porch using the window as a height guide. It is fun to look at the last 3 years and see how they have changed. Jake leaves home @ 6 am.
(Jake what is with the white socks? I guess it was 5 am...early morn. seminary)
My super cute 8th grader and soon to be 13. Madisyn leaves with Roger @ 7 am to go pick up Jake from seminary and then be dropped at school.
Love the shoes!
Sam and Luke in front of Sam's school, Cottonwood Elementary
Sam with Luke and his new teacher Mrs. Green

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Sam's Birthday Party 8/09

OK, so his actual birthday is the end of July!
But we are always in AZ for his birthday and he really wanted to have a party with his Fernley friends. He has wanted to do this for years and I finally gave in.
Actually I think I just finally came up with a fun idea.
It was a campfire Circle and Night Games theme in our Back Yard.
Sam and Luke and my masterpiece of a cake. ;)
Friends
James Knight, Jack Jones, Ian Jorgansen, Sam, Spencer Knight, Nate (Claussen), Matt Knight, Katie Bake, Seth Bake, Luke
Trying to light the candles in the breeze.
Madisyn and Luke roasting marshmallows.
Jake reading "ghost" stories. Roger and Sam.
Some of the other fun things were roasting hot dogs, jumping on the tramp, and playing Kick the Can and No Bears are out Tonight and the ever fun Glow Sticks.
I think everyone had a really fun time!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

One last Hoorah 8/18/09

My friend Jenny Jones had posted on facebook some fun photos of her family going out to Pyramid Lake. I told her we would like to go with her sometime. So we all went the Wednesday before school started for a fun day of chill'n. I say we all but it was mostly just us gals and kids, the husbands and Jake and her oldest Kyle didn't go.
I thought this was a pretty view of the "Pyramid" or at least one of them.
Their family has found this wonderful beach. We have only been to Pyramid Lake a few times because we had never found any nice beaches. Now that she has introduced us to this one we might get up there a lot more often.
The water was gorgeous! It was so clear and the beach was a nice sand which extended way out into the water. The bigger kids had a great time on the tubes Jenny had brought.
Sam by his "well" that he and Jack had dug.
The Group.
I was fascinated by the geology out there. I want to find a book that explains how these awesome rock clusters were formed. They are so cool!
Thanks for taking us with you Jenny.

Haines Reunion 09

We had a wonderful Haines Reunion the last weekend of July at Lyman Lake, AZ. The Haines family line is from my mothers mother. My Grandma is the last living of her siblings. It is amazing how time moves on. This is only the 2nd "reunion" of this family line in my lifetime and it was exciting that we were able to have at least one representative from each of the four children of George and Mae Haines.
The fun banner the kids made. What artists!
We had a fun birthday celebration for Sam while we were there. He is lucky, he gets to spend every birthday with his AZ cousins. Jerryne's daughter Lexy and Madisyn.
Karston, Sam and Ren
My night for dinner. Thank heavens for Travis's grill! When we get together with the Sherwood's we always take turns cooking. Mine was my famous grilled mesquite chicken with spinach salad, garlic bread and pasta salad.
The RV lined up in the "compound". Lyman has a nice set up for groups. A large building with evap. cooler, bathrooms and electricity. As well as a nice private beach, boat dock and of course RV spaces with full hook ups.
One of the wonderful AZ sunsets.