New Family Pictures with the Bleaks!

 

We were excited to get family pictures done before Grandma and Grandpa Bleak left for Hawaii. We all met at Tibble Fork up American Fork canyon on a Friday evening and it was super quick and the grandkids all did amazing. 

Our family's pictures:

The rest of the family's photos:

(My favorite thing about this picture of Kristen and Andrews family is that Ava had fallen asleep in the car and was having a difficult time cooperating and wanting to smile or even stand where she was told. But as soon as she caught a cricket she was as happy as could be and that little cricket helped her to take the pictures as long as she could hold it out for everyone to see :). It was so cute.)

Bazooka Jane

The nickname has been fitting the last 6 months. She is such an adorable, walking tornado. However, as I write this, she has become a little more mild and not destroying AS much in the home. 

Let's just say we have become creative in our child-proofing lately and have bought a number of child-proof locks we never had to with our other children. I duck-taped the downstairs kitchenette faucet so she won't flood the downstairs anymore. We have locks on our bathrooms, my bedroom, the outside fridge AND freezer, Emma's closet in her bedroom. The two that scares me the most that I haven't figured out how to keep her from turning on the hose in the backyard as well as the bathtub by herself. One time she turned on the hose without me knowing and left it on and luckily was away from the home enough that it didn't come down and flood our home. The other super scary time was when she said, "get in the bath?" and I said, "yes, just a min." Well, she didn't want to wait for mom so she went to the bathroom (that was not closed), turned on the bathtub, took off her clothes and got in. It took me several minutes to realize that she was gone and that the water was turned on. I ran into the bathroom and she was okay but the water was a few inches from the top. I was praying and thanking my Father in Heaven that day that most importantly she didn't drown and second of all that our bathroom didn't flood. 

Little Janie-boo keeps us on our toes. Between the pens and markers all over the walls and floors and bum cream all over the dresser and herself, and water explosions all over the home, she keeps us busy. 

Jane is such a talker. She uses full sentences and has the cutest little voice. She loves playing in the sprinklers and with water balloons, she loves going to the park, and finally likes people outside of our family (covid baby- makes it hard to be around other people :)). Jane LOVES going to nursery at church and playing at our friends house- the Swan's. 

Oh, one thing that is amazing about Jane is that she often will put herself down for a nap or for bed at night. She likes to sleep and if she knows she's tired and wants her binky enough then she will turn on her sound machine, close the shutters, ask for her binky and go to bed. As long as her nap is early enough in the morning then it doesn't ruin her going to be at night. 

We love our sweet, joyful Jane. 

Bear Lake 2021

 Another successful year at Bear Lake. We had a great time and we so happy that Grandma and Grandpa Bleak could join us before leaving on their mission to Hawaii. We all had a wonderful time playing on the beach and kayaking and beach spike ball and such. This has been a very fun tradition!!

Just a few pic of the boaters! I didn't go on the boat and stayed back with Benson on the beach. 

Some of the games this year were "eating like animals", family type olympics and a gambling horse racing game that Cade did with the kiddos- haha. They had fun!

On our last day we traveled about an hour away on an extremely bumpy road to a lake. The hike wasn't too bad to get there and the lake was beautiful. Cade stayed home with Benson and packed us all up to go back home. I went in my parents truck with Jane and enjoyed that time talking with them. 

At the lake, there was a rope swing and the kids and adults had a great time doing that. On our way home from the hike we got famous shakes and burgers (the burgers not so famous :)). 

We had another awesome, successful year at Bear Lake!

The Start of School without Masks!

 School starts again! And this year it's not quite so crazy as last. At least for now :). They started the school year without masks and every once in a while if they were around someone who tests positive for Covid-19 they have to wear masks for the week. 

Nora is in 2nd grade with Mrs. Hiatt. 

Reese is in 4th grade with Mrs. Christensen

Emma is in 6th grade with Mrs. Shaw. Sixth grade is a little different this year where they have a home room but rotate between all the 6th grade teachers for different subjects so they can get used to the bigger change in 7th grade. I think it's a brilliant way to help them with the junior high transition. Emma was super excited because this year she is with 3 of her best friends (where last year she didn't have any friends in the same class as her). 

And then a week later it was Lucy's turn to go to Lincoln Academy!! She was beyond excited. This Kindergarten year she has Mrs. Nilson as her teacher and Mrs. Baker as her TA. She immediately made friends with Anna who she sat by on her first day of school. Lucy wasn't nervous at all and was just excited to meet friends and be at the same school as her sisters.