First Day of School!

This year is the only year in the Southwick household where we get the rare opportunity of having 5 kids in 5 different schools!! Kylee is at the High School, Em at the Middle School, Kade at ACYI, Quincy at Three Mile Creek Elementary, and Brinley at Willard Elementary. They all come and go at different times! I told Chris if anything happens while my children are at school I would just have to hide under my bed because how would I choose which child to go to??? This is the last year all of my children will be in my home for the school year. I cannot believe we are to this stage of our lives. It doesn't seem like it should be possible. We are just going to have to make it a great year!! This year Kylee is an awesome SENIOR...I can't believe it, Em is a beautiful Middle Schooler in 8th grade, Kade is our Cool Dude 6th grader, Quincy is our sweetest ever 3rd grader and Brinley is our smartest ever Kindergartener!!

Good Luck at School...may your mother have some hours of peace and quiet!! Just kidding!

Summer 2011

We have had a great summer this year. It was busy and full but we also had enough time to just play. For me...not having babies...all the children freely running the neighborhood... has been a pleasant next stage of life. Crazy sometimes, but I have really enjoyed it. Time seems to be flying by and I know that my days are limited with all of my children here at home with me. I want to remember what a typical summer day in the Southwick family looked like. This a little piece...

* Quincy and Brinley in their swimming suites all day everyday...they looked like dirty little orphan children sometimes!

* TV in the mornings...I don't especially love this part, but it is part of summer.

* Fun trips together. This year we spent time in Nauvoo with Grandpa Tom and Grandma Barb, Rexburg with the Southwick family, Crystal Hot Springs with the Hadley family, and Park City together with just us. We also played alot for the few days that Mike and Debbie and their family came to visit. Chris and Kade were also able to slip in an overnight backpacking trip right before school started. It was so fun to see and do all the fun things we were able to.

* Night Games - our house is the gathering place for night games. All children from all over the nieghborhood ages 5 (Brinley) to 15 play almost every night. The come out of the woodwork and start showing up about 8:30 and play until 10:30pm. They LOVE it!

* Late nights - our bedtime this year seemed to be 11:30!! Pretty late for some little girls!

* Smores in the fire pit...only a couple times this year, but at least we did it a couple!!

* "Monk" and "Psyche" - my kids were addicted to these two shows this summer. We probably watched at least one episode every day! I have to admit...I became addicted too. Kylee got into "the dress show" where brides try on wedding dresses. The rest of us weren't too impressed...it scares me to think what this says about Kylee!!

* Little girl friends. In our neighborhood Quincy and Brinley are kind of a package deal. You don't just get one...you get two! They like to play every waking moment that they are home. We often have 5 -6 little girls running around our house. And let me tell you...they can make one big mess!!! I'm sure my poor neighbors have figured that out too!

* Kade and Chayse's summer produce adventures! These two boys talked Chayse's grandpa into letting them have some land to plant a large garden on. They planted, weeded, and watered their garden every few days for a large part of the summer. Towards the end they set up a stand on the side of the road and sold their produce. What they couldn't sell they put in a large basket and went door to door. They came home from their door to door sales with a very interesting observation. The people in the newer houses bought more...conclusion...they don't have gardens yet and they are rich!! This has been a great thing to keep 2 eleven year old boys busy and out of trouble for the summer!!! We are lucky to live next to nice neighbors who share their country way of living with us city people!

* Quincy and Brinley have arrived at the great opportunity to be able to go around the block together...by themselves!!!! They can be seen on scooters, bikes or rollerblades.

* This is the summer we have watched our Brigham City Temple go up. It has been awesome. You can see the temple from our backyard!!! We watched Moroni be placed on top and we are waiting patiently for the "red roof" to be replaced. There is nothing better than driving down the Walmart road and seeing the temple rising up above the trees in the middle of the city!! Hopefully next summer is the summer of open house and dedication!!

I can only say one thing...we are very blessed. It's been a great summer!!

Chris & Kade Backpacking Trip to Adam's Canyon

Right before school started Chris and Kade were able to find time to sneak in a boys only backpacking trip. Kade was so excited...I think Chris was as well!! They left on a Monday evening and hiked up and stayed the night. They came back on Tuesday afternoon smelling like dirt and campfire which tells me that they had a great time!!

Great boy bonding!! Kade you are one lucky boy to have a Dad who loves to spend time with you! I am pretty grateful Chris got at least one boy so that he could do the fun manly things they do together...us girls aren't so good at that!

Kylee's 17th Birthday (August)

All that Kylee wanted for her 17th birthday was to have a Princess party with her friends. I really never thought I would be throwing my 17 year old a princess party...but whatever works!! She invited her 3 closest friends and told them to dress up like princesses. They were as excited as she was, with the exception of Shelby, who came dressed as Mulan! On the day of her birthday we went to the DI and she scored this lovely yellow Belle dress. Emilee told her it was "hairy" but Kylee loved it. She tried on many dresses in the dressing room and had the time of her life. How grateful I am that she is still fairly easy to please. She created the invitations herself...small princess castles. She made her own cinderella cake, with a lot of help from me! And she decorated the basement for her party. I thought it was pretty funny. Brinley thought she had died and gone to heaven. No wonder those two have a special bond...Kylee is a lot like a 5 year old!! I kept asking her what they were going to do at this party, and she told me she didn't need it all planned out and they would figure out what to do. She was right. They jumped on the tramp, swang on the swingset, took flying leaps off the wall outside, and played tetherball...all in their princess dresses. I know our neighbors were probably just laughing. They ate cake and ice cream and then settled in the basement to watch "Tangled". Of course...what was I worried about. She had it all under control.

Jumping off of the wall...in their dresses. Who knew what 17 year olds would find fun!!

We did have a family party for her on the Sunday after her birthday. She had Grandma and Grandpa come and eat turkey steak...another dream come true!

We love you Kylee. I am glad you are so fun and can just be yourself. I am glad you have great freinds who can also have fun and not worry about what other people think. I hope you love princesses for the rest of your life! Your future daughters will think you are awesome.

HAPPY 17TH BIRTHDAY!!!

Southwick Family Reunion in Rexburg

This year it was Becky's turn to plan the family reunion. She held it in Rexburg at Great Grandma Ward and Grandpa & Grandma's house. Everyone was able to be there except John and Hillary and their family. We are a big crowd when we all get together. It was Thursday through Sunday, with Sunday being a celebration for Grandma Ward's 90th birthday. Thursday we spent time at the Rexburg nature park where we played games, fished and ate lunch. Saturday we spent the day at the new Rexburg splash park. It was lots of fun. Saturday evening we had our family home evening lesson taught by Grandpa Southwick about one of our ancestors. Sunday we doubled the attendance at Grandpa and Grandma's ward and then had lunch back in the backyard. We were joined by all of Grandma Ward's family who had come for the community celebration for her birthday. That evening we set up the church and welcomed her friends who came to wish her a happy birthday. This was the first reunion without aunt Cindy. We all missed her being there.

Good thing Grandpa has a big back yard...we fill it right up!
Most everyone slept in tents back in the pasture area. Kylee, Emilee and Kade slept in tents with their cousins. Dad, Mom, Quincy and Brinley were blessed enough to get an invitation from Mike and Debbie to join them along with Madison in their hotel room. Man were we spoiled. We loved it!!!

Grandpa teaching the grandkids how to run one of his great inventions!!

Oh my...what cute teenagers. Kylee, Alecia, Emilee, Rachel and Meagan.

Southwick's are very ingenius!! Karl is walking across boards that they are all holding. Great boy activity!!

The bowery at the Nature Park.

It was a great reunion...it always is. It doesn't really matter where we go or what we do we always have a great time just being together. For the Southwick family we are only all together once a year at the summer reunion, and it is only every other year for our Virginia cousins. It is so fun to watch the cousins play together and become reaquainted each year.

We have a great family!!

Trek! (July 20-24th, 2011)

This year Kylee and Emilee were able to go on a Pioneer Trek with the Young Men and Young Women in our ward. It was a great experience for them. They worked hard for many months before preparing to go. They made their own pioneer skirts, bonnets, and aprons to wear. We found out that Emilee is quite a good little sewer! They went from July 20-24th. They were assigned a family with 7 other siblings and a Ma and Pa. Emilee's parents were the Emmersons and Kylee's parents were the Faerbers.

Kylee (the oldest and tallest girl there) and Justin Murray (the youngest and most definately the shortest boy there) were deemed the best dance couple! They ended up as partners for a few minutes at the hoedown and everyone thought it was a great set up. We saw a picture posted on facebook and it was really cute! Justin didn't want his picture taken but Kylee grabbed him and held onto him long enough for a snapshot!!

Emilee was asked to speak in Sacrament meeting when they got home and she spoke about an experience they had called the "womens pull". They had to push and pull their handcarts up a very steep hill without the help of any leaders or young men. Both her and Kylee said it was hard but they learned some important lessons. They also both came home with a much greater appreciation of what the pioneers went through to make their journey west.

I am so grateful to belong to a church that provides my children with such wonderful opportunities that strengthens their testimonies. They have both had a great summer with a lot of experiences that has taught them so much more about our pioneer ancestors. They were both able to take stories that Grandpa Southwick has researched about their own pioneer ancestors.

And...they came home very very very DIRTY, sunburned and tired!!! It was well worth it though!