I belong to the Church of Jesus Christ...

 Krystal made the decision to be baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  We spent a lot of time talking with her about what this decision means and about the commitment she is making to be like Jesus Christ and serve and help others throughout her life.  She was very excited and the baptism was beautiful.

 This is Krystal with Bishop Becker.  She asked the Bishop to be one of the witnesses to her baptism.

 Krystal really wanted Jared to play the piano for her baptism, but he was really nervous about it as he had never played accompaniment for a group of people singing before.  He knew that it was important to Krystal so he practiced a lot and did a great job, Clarissa helped him with turning the pages.  The two songs he played were "He Sent His Son" and "I'm Trying To Be Like Jesus."

 Grandma and Grandpa Mattson attended the baptism.  Krystal asked Grandma and our home teacher to give the two talks.  Grandpa Mattson was also a witness to the baptism.

 Dad baptized Krystal and confirmed her a member of the church.

 This is just a cute picture of the kiddos after the baptism.

And...just to prove that the day was not all serious.

Four Months

 August 29, Helping Mom cook dinner facing out in the Moby.

 August 31, Bearing weight on his legs.

 September 1, Hiking with Dad

 September 2, Sitting up with support

 September 3, All of our babies have done this with their arms when they get tired.

 September 10, Hugging his burp cloth

 September 13, First time in a park swing

 September 16, Seth is now noticing and playing with toys

 September 26, Seth loves playing in his gym

 September 28, 4 months old and he grew some hair!

 4 month photo shoot, loves from mom

 4 month photo shoot, silly baby

4 months old and all smiles!

Krystal is 8!

 For Krystal's birthday on Thursday, Clarissa and I surprised her with a special trip to Claire's in the mall to get her ears pierced.  Clarissa and Krystal both got their ears pierced together which made it a little less scary.  They both love their new earrings and couldn't stop smiling. We also enjoyed some ice cream cones from McDonalds as a birthday treat.

 On Friday night, Krystal invited her friends over for a "Favorite Stuffed Friend" party.

 Blue and orange themed decorations.

 The cake with 8 candles!

 Playing a get-to-know-you game to introduce their favorite stuffed friends.

 Each person told something interesting about themselves, Krystal's was that she just got her ears pierced, she's still excited.

 One of the activities was to make your own creature or friend out of clay, this is the creature Krystal made.

 This is Nicole's crazy surfer monster dude.

 Delaney and her two cute creations.

 Krystal enjoyed all her gifts, especially these fairies from her brother and sisters.

 She is so excited to blow out her candles!

 Make a wish!

And we have found there is no better way to end a party than with some crazy dancing!

Shortcut

Amber has always had long hair, but as she gets older and plays harder, her hair is getting more difficult to maintain so...I cut it.  It is about 5 inches shorter, isn't she adorable?

A Day Off School

 What to do when school is out for a teacher work day? Go to the lake with friends and go boating of course!  Gatewood Resevoir does not allow motor boats so we brought a canoe and kayaks.

 Clarissa and Jerikka enjoy kayaking.  Jared did it too.

 Jared helped Jonah fish. It was really funny, Jared would put a lure on the hook that looked like a fish or a squid and then cast it out without Jonah seeing.  Then he would let Jonah reel it in and tell Jonah that he caught something.  Jonah was so excited and kept saying, "I caught a squib!"  So cute.

 While the boys fished...the girls played in the mud!

Seth enjoyed a little sun before mom put him back in the shade.

In the Trenches

Last year the city dug up the road in front of our house to put in a city water line.  We heard that they would give us the opportunity to tap in to the city water and that opportunity finally came this month, but it came as a surprise that we were not financially ready for.  We love having well water, but for many reasons it made more sense to tap into the city water than to stay on a shared well.  So, we plunked down the money and hired a contractor to come dig a trench in our front yard.  The girls loved playing in the trench over the weekend and were sad when it had to be filled in.  It was fun while it lasted and now we are bemoaning the taste of the city water, but it was nice the first time the power went out (which happens a lot) and we still had water.  Now we are working to dig our way out of the financial trench that this has created, but we know we will win this battle.

Eggs!

After waiting for over 2 months since getting our chickens, they have finally started laying.  The three eggs in the front are our first 3 eggs.  They are smaller than the large store bought ones and their yolks are darker, but they are yummy.  Funny thing though, when we sat down to eat the eggs for the first time for breakfast, Amber just sat there looking at hers and then said, "Ew."  We asked her what was wrong and she responded, "I just thought about where these came from."  So funny.

Dragon's Tooth

 We have been wanting to hike to Dragon's Tooth in Salem as a family for a year now, ever since Chris and I went last summer for our anniversary.  Labor Day weekend seemed like the perfect time to go so we packed up the baby, the dog, and everyone else and headed up to the trailhead.

 Seth is wearing the onsie that I designed for him that says "Mom's hiking buddy." We are ready to hike 2.7 miles to the top.

 At first the trail isn't too bad, just forest and a few rocks every now and then.

 Then the trail gets a little more rocky, which the kids thought was a lot of fun.

 Then we came to this...yes, this is actually the trail.  You have to climb up the rock face to get to the next part of the trail and there were several places like this.  Some places had bars sticking out of them like ladders to help and others were more like this.  All the groups we passed were amazed at how well the kids were doing on the rocks. 

 This stair stepper rock seemed like a perfect place for a picture of all the kids and since Seth was asleep in the Moby wrap, Mom too.

 The first view, and there would be several more. 

 "Hey, when are we going to get to this thing you keep calling Dragon's Tooth?"

 Diesel didn't scramble over the rocks quite as easily as the kids.  People kept commenting about how I was taking the baby up this trail, but I think Chris had the tougher job.  At 70 lbs, Diesel is no lightweight, but we wanted to bring him as he is getting older and we aren't sure how many more hikes he will be able to take.

 Finally at the top.  This is on top of the tooth, you can actually see a 360 degree view from up here.  The kids did great, they never complained once and had smiles the whole way.  They all made it without any help too.

 Our second time up to Dragon's Tooth.

 The whole family.

 After spending some time climbing on all the rocks and playing in the sand at the top, we headed back down.  Down was easy for everyone but Diesel.

When we got to the creek, Diesel gave up and laid down in it with a look on his face that said, "Just leave me here and I'll die in this nice cool water."  After a rest, we made him get back up and finish the race with the rest of the family.  We all made it the whole 5.4 miles and really enjoyed this time together.  We also know that the memories will last.