Andrea and Todd Kestner family

Last of the sunny days

2011-10-03T16:28:00.000-07:00

One of the last warm days of the summer. School had started when we finally had some really warm weather show up. We decided to head up to rock creek and have some fun in the water there. They had the most fun trying to build up the dam. Dallin was the only one that did some real swimming.

Deer Park in the Olympic National Park

2011-08-14T15:46:00.000-07:00

We spent four days in the Olympics and had a wonderful time. We had hundreds of pictures but these are the ones that give some of the best overview of our vacation.

Todd found out that if you take a picture with the BYU flag somewhere exotic and they picked your picture to be published in the BYU magazine than you could get $50. So that is why everyone is pointing at me because I am wearing a BYU Sweatshirt.

This was our view. On almost every hike we went on we were able to see the same type of view. We truly felt on top of the world.

Dallin and Hunter showing us there creative moss mustaches.

This was the last hike we went on the day before we left. Most of the hike was on the ridge of a mountain. We took three pictures but two look blurry. They weren't blurry however it was just the clouds blowing in and out.

This is a good example of what Gideon does. He is very observant.

Look at his eyes. He is still watching his sister to make sure he's getting it right or maybe to see if she is going to do something els that he will need to copy. They are drinking hot chocolate by the way.

I found this huge beetle and Alaina had fun looking at it for awhile.

Just thought this rock was cool. It had all kinds of wildflowers growing off of it that are hard to see.

Just one example of the deer we saw wandering through our campsite.

One of the view's

Todd looking studdly!

Aiden was able to get this butterfly to hang out on his finger for awhile.

This was the first major hike we went on. It was beautiful.

Mason doing his version of a snot boogie hanging out of his nose with moss

Of course with the diverse ages in our family we cannot even attempt a hike without everyone helping the younger ones. Gideon was choosy as to whose shoulders he sat on and it changed frequently.

Scout Camp

2011-07-12T11:13:00.000-07:00

Camp Pioneer. A beautiful campground. Called the Jewel of the Cascades.

Todd showing off his Archery skills.

The boys that attended camp.

Todd, Hunter and Mason after the polar bear swim.

Hunter and Mason taking a moment for a picture.

Todd excited about how well he did in the Frisbee game.

Todd went on a Scoutmaster hike and was able to see this beautiful view of mt. Jefferson.

Alaina's Dance

2011-06-23T12:25:00.000-07:00

Alaina in her last dance recital with this group. Once you go to kindergarten you can't be a part of this group anymore. She loved going to her dance class.

Gideon's first haircut

2011-06-15T21:08:00.001-07:00

Gideon's first haircut. He was one of the easiest boys. He thought it was so much fun. He got a little wiggly at the end but otherwise was great.

Sorry to those that haven't been able to post comments. I have no idea why. I never did anything to change it. I made some adjustments so hopefully it will no longer be the case. If it is please let me know.

Rose Festival

2011-06-12T19:55:00.000-07:00

Saturday we went to waterfront park to look at the ships that were docked. We had a great time.

As I downloaded pictures I realized how far behind I am. So I will try and post several times this week to get some of the other things that we have done documented.

Gavin's Baptism

2011-05-22T21:04:00.000-07:00

I know that this is a little late but it was an important day and he was so cute and excited about it.

Growing up

2011-05-04T08:16:00.000-07:00

Shaving is a big thing to boys. It's like a passage and we make it a big deal. Not an embarrasing one. I love it. I like watching my boys grow up. Each stage is so amazing but I find that I love watching their personalities blossom and how they learn to take on new challenges in life. It reminds me that I might be older but my experiences are still changing and I'm still learning. Hunter is a great kid!! We tease him sometimes about how he hasn't been the easiest child to raise but I would never have wanted him any other way. He is an incredible young man and can accomplish anything if he puts his mind to it. He loved shaving and all the pictures.

Rollar Skating

2011-04-17T10:13:00.000-07:00

I am awful at blogging and always seem to do it in the opposite order. So I am going to sound a little repetitive but we went roller skating as a family and out to eat before. Gideon decided that the ketchup looked more appetizing then his food but it was out of reach so he improvised.

Todd going around with Alaina, in the beginning she wasn't at all thrilled.
Hunter was flying around the rink. He never got close enough for our camera to get a good shot.
Dallin and Hunter both ended up with huge blisters. According to Todd, Hunter and Dallin the bigger skates were horribly uncomfortable. It was a wonderful evening! This wonderful night on the town only cost us $80.

Roller Skating

2011-04-17T09:51:00.000-07:00

So we have never gone roller skating as a family. Really sad I know but we made up for it during spring break and Aiden has a steller bruise on his elbow to prove it. Mason has never even had skates on his feet and so it was really new for him. By the end of the night he was doing a great job.

Aiden has been skating a few times. He has had the opportunity to skate at birthday parties, which may have been why he got such a huge bruise, he was flying around the rink.
Gavin had only skated once before and he was a daredevil flying around the rink at record speeds.
Alaina didn't really want to skate until we rented this neat little roller mate. After that she never stopped.
Gideon was adorable. We weren't going to pay for him but after about 15 min. the owner came up and said he wants to go out there go put some skates on him. Gideon skated almost the entire time. Towards the end, he would cry when he wasn't out on the rink but when we took him out he would skate for a minute and then want to be carried. His little legs were so tired.

Beach Trip

2011-01-26T20:24:00.000-08:00

It was a beautiful weekend at the beach. Dallin and Todd spent the whole day at NAACs (native American arts and ceremonies). It's a scouting thing. Mason put together a little mini ocean. It was really cool. He had sea monkeys and sand fleas in there.

Hunter and his cousin Nicklas spent most of the time wandering the beach together.
Gavin and Alaina had a fun time playing in the water. Yes it is January at the coast and Alaina is in a swimsuit. She spent two hours in that suit.
Gideon loved it. He could've stayed out all day if it hadn't finally got cold.

Something New

2011-01-13T22:07:00.000-08:00

I thought I would try something different and highlight each member of the family and focus on them for one blog entry. I struggle trying to give an update of what everyone is doing and think I will have more fun this way and hopefully it will help me blog more often.

So today it's on Gideon. He is such a delight. Today while I was talking to my sister at the door he walked out and climbed down the steps. Then when he realized no one was stopping him he took off as quickly as his little legs would carry him, which was half way into the sopping grass. I thought it was so funny I didn't have the heart to stop him. He crawled around for about 5 minutes in the sopping cold northwest outdoors when I thought it would be best to bring him in and clean him up.

One of his favorite things to play with is the dishwasher, today he made the bold move to climb up on the dishwasher just in case I might close his favorite toy up.
I don't understand what he is really doing here but he puts his face down and gets it all wet. I catch him doing it all the time.
This is his blanket he must have it when he sleeps and he gives a cute little squeal when he sees it.

Halloween

2010-10-31T17:03:00.000-07:00

Just a few misc. Halloween pictures. I haven't downloaded the rest of them.

Gideon just having a fun time with his dad.
The kids pumpkins. They all turned out great. I love all the unique designs each year.

Football

2010-10-26T22:06:00.000-07:00

Hunter just finished his first season of football and loved it. It took me a bit by surprise because he never really showed an interest before. He did great!!

Gideon

2010-10-21T07:44:00.000-07:00

So it has been forever since I posted last but hopefully I will do a little better over the next few months. Here are some picts of Gideon. We think the way he drinks from his cup is funny. He grips it by the lid rather then holding it with two hands. As soon as he's done he throws it.

Going for a ride on the vacuum cleaner. He loves the vacuum and always chases it around when I'm vacuuming.

Difference in size

2010-09-12T22:15:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I have pictures on the camera that I need to download onto the computer but just haven't taken the time to do it yet so found this picture and thought it would be a fun one. These are two eggs that were collected the same day.

Killen Creek

2010-09-01T08:48:00.000-07:00

Our 2010 Family camp up in the Mt. Adams wilderness. We had a blast. It was dry and very dusty but that didn't seem to bother anyone. We brought the motorcycles and they were in use by one of the boys all day.

We also managed to get in a hike. Wasn't the most popular activity we did. Looks like we will need to do a bit more hiking. We haven't hiked as much as we used to. You can see the dust we kicked up behind us.
We got this picture right after swimming in horseshoe lake.
We had a lot of fun with all the frogs that were up there. These were a couple of the smaller ones we found.
This is one of the bigger ones. We found a lot in between these two sizes as well. Gideon thought they were pretty neat until one, that we were holding in front of him so he could look at it, jumped on his face.
We had a lot of fun and look forward to spending time camping again.

Shirts family reunion

2010-08-01T22:58:00.000-07:00

We had a shirts reunion on Saturday and had a great time. Todd and the boys left early which is why they are not in any of the pictures. They had a scout thing. Here is Alaina and her cousin Kala practicing for the three legged race. They were doing pretty good here.

This is at the start of the race notice they're still together. About 7 feet later they let go of each other and fell down.
This however didn't stop Alaina. She was going to make it to the finish line even if she had to drag her cousin behind. Grandpa came to the rescue and lifted them both up.
This is at the end of the mummy wrap when Alaina got to break out. She had a lot of fun.
Kala did a great job of wrapping her up.
Oh a funny story to tell as well. A boy about her age called Noah decided he liked to push Alaina around. She came and told me and I told her to push him back. I was standing with a group at that time and after Alaina ran off we started paying attention to what was going on and sure enough Noah came behind her and pushed her three times in a row. She pushed him back but he just pushed her harder. She took one look at him and ran a ways to where Gavin was playing and Gavin immediately turned and chased Noah off with a great big stick. Us adults were laughing pretty hard. Somebody said that was standing by me. "Don't mess with her she has a bunch of older brothers."

Don't forget to look at the pictures below they're new as well.

Summer Moments

2010-08-01T22:42:00.000-07:00

I like Kline line and took an opportunity on Wednesday to go, even though it was not a very warm day. The kids thought it was plenty warm enough and had a great time. Nathan Martinson was spending the night so he got to hang out there with us. This year there are no lifeguards on duty supposedly due to budget cuts. The boys seem to like it better that way. The city moved the dock as well you can see it in the background to the right.

Gideon absolutely loves the sand and water. I had to keep him from crawling in deeper.

Dance Festival

2010-07-19T10:48:00.000-07:00

June 24th thru the 26th Dallin and Hunter participated in a six stake Dance Festival. There were over 2,000 youth participating. It turned out to be an incredible performance and the boys loved it. Even Hunter who doesn't like to dance. Below is the Dance Dallin participated in. If you enlarge it you can find him toward the back on the 40 yd line.

All of the youth together at the beginning.
This was Hunter's dance he is just left of the 50 yd line near the blue line in the middle.

More dance festival

2010-07-19T10:18:00.000-07:00

Dallin and Hunter really enjoyed the dance festival. The last day of the dance festival, which was the day this picture was taken, was Hunter's birthday. In his own words. "Ok so this was a really cool birthday."

Dallin showing us how he flipped Savannah. He did a great job and each group only had one guy and girl do the flip so he thought it was pretty cool that he got to do it.
Hunter and Nicklas posing for a picture. This was one of the moves in their dance. The very first time Hunter went to practice he accidentally punched his partner because he didn't move to the right side like they were supposed to.
Dallin with his dance partner on the left and another girl in the ward that was in their group.

Early July

2010-07-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy couple of weeks and here are just a few things that have happened. I will hopefully post pictures of the dance festival and other things in the future.

Dallin hiked to the top of Mt. St. Helen's on Wednesday and had a great experience. He took it slow but made it to the top. He was one of 3 that made it. Five boys quit and didn't make it.

Dallin took a picture of Spirit Lake from the top of the mt.

On the 4th of July we headed to Fort Vancouver to watch the fireworks. Alaina packed her backpack and when she had carried it a couple of blocks from the car she complained that it was too heavy so her dad was kind enough to carry it for her. When we got to the fort they checked everyone's bags and guess what we found in Alaina's backpack. Notice the pink 3lb weight.
When Todd asked her why she brought it, she replied, "to work out dad."

Todd participated in a 3 on 3 tournament last Saturday and afterwards we went to Multnomah falls. It was so busy we decided not to hike to the top but we did fight the crowds to the first bridge.

Cub Scout Advancement

2010-06-21T13:18:00.000-07:00

Thursday was pack meeting and Mason earned his Arrow of light and Aiden earned his wolf. Dallin helped out with the ceremony and did a great job acting as the great chief Akela. No picture of him only video. Here is Alaina wearing the chiefs hat after it started falling apart.

Junior rose parade

2010-06-09T20:00:00.000-07:00

Alaina, Gideon and I got to go to the junior rose parade today. We even managed to stay dry. I thought Covington did an amazing job they were one of the best bands there.

If you click on the picture to make it bigger you can see Hunter he is in the middle in the second row.

I also got to see my nephew Nicklas play the trumpet as well he is the second trumpet from the end behind the drums.

A day at Sandy's

2010-06-06T17:19:00.000-07:00

It was a beautiful day on Saturday and we headed up to La Center to clean out her car, cut some grass and have some fun. Here is Andreas Martinson on Todd's bike.

Nathan Martinson with Todd.
And Gideon who by the way loves the grass.

Truly Puzzled

2010-06-04T11:13:00.000-07:00

I finally got Gideon to go 6 to 8 hours without eating at night and For about 4 days I was finally getting about 4 to 6 hours of sleep in a row. The last two days he has foiled my plans of getting good rest by not going to bed until 3 am. I can not figure this kid out. Last night at 2:30 I was trying to get him to go to sleep and something I did made him laugh and he spent the next 5 minutes giggling. That was more laughing then he ever does during the day.

Of course because of my lack of sleep Todd has been a saint and lets me sleep in in the morning by getting the boys off to school. This morning Alaina woke up and came in and told me to get up at 10:50. I jumped out of bed and started running around like crazy. I had on my calendar that two of the boys had a dentist apt. at 11:00. I called the dentist and asked if it was still ok if I bring the boys in only to discover I had it on the calendar wrong. There appointments aren't till next week. whew.

I think since it is Friday and his crying won't mess with Todd and work, my cute little baby boy is going to go to bed at midnight. I know he will be most unhappy about it but Mom needs to get to sleep earlier.

This is why I laugh when people say "I bet you have it all figured out," after hearing how many children I have. I always respond, "Well I would if they all came the same."

Gideon has me stumped!!

Memorial Day

2010-06-01T11:08:00.000-07:00

I have been really behind in posting lately so I have a whole bunch of posts. I hope you enjoy them. Monday we went and cleaned and visited the graves of our relatives. This has been a tradition I have done since I was a kid and love it. We spent four hours traveling around to the different grave yards. The group is getting bigger. There were 30 of us this year traveling from grave to grave.

2010-06-01T11:01:00.000-07:00

Alaina bit through her lip on Sunday and had to have one stitch. She was a trooper and didn't even cry. Although her eyes did water a bit when they gave her the shot to numb it. The doctor said she was better then even the big kids meaning the adults.

We start the kids riding motorcycles young.
Alaina enjoying her new umbrella from Grandma Kestner.

2010-06-01T10:54:00.000-07:00

I had to post this picture because of how funny it was. I'll explain. Baby bunnies nurse once a day usually at night or early morning. As soon as the bunnies can jump out of the nesting boxes they try and nurse constantly. The mama's don't like it and are continually trying to hop away from the bunnies, kind of hard in a cage. Anyway this picture was taken on mothers day. This mama rabbit had it figured out. On mothers day she was going to take a few minutes just for herself.

Catch up

2010-06-01T10:47:00.001-07:00

While I was in Florida my mom signed Alaina up for dance. It's the same dance I had Hunter and Dallin in years ago. She loved it!!

bulging ear drum

2010-05-11T23:00:00.000-07:00

So he has a bulging ear drum and is on his third dose of antibiotics. If this doesn't work then they will refer him to an ear nose and throat specialist.

Tired

2010-05-11T13:26:00.000-07:00

I haven't had much energy to blog lately. Gideon is still fighting an ear infection which means I am holding him all evening and then not getting much sleep which means I sleep in and ultimately feel like I only get a couple of hours to take care of all the home things that I need to do.

He has another appointment today. He just had his 6 month apt. last Wednesday and he still had fluid behind the ears but no infection. It's been six weeks of fussy baby. He is currently crying in my arms while I type.

It's amazing any of us mothers manage to stay sane.

2010-05-04T14:48:00.000-07:00

Gideon is getting to big for the swing. He no longer wants to lay back and go to sleep, which means he falls asleep on the tray. He hasn't slept in the swing for two days now, but has adjusted fairly well to taking naps in his bed.

I was really worried because the swing was the only way I could get him to sleep during the day and sometimes at night as well. Of course he doesn't like sleeping at night anyway but at least he sleeps the same amount as he did with the swing.

Hooked on Scouting

2010-05-03T17:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the hooked on scouting event where the children ages 6 to 14 got to try and catch a fish at Klineline. They put a net up and stalked it full of trout and wala dinner.

Dallin helped out at the event as part of O.A.

Alaina Isn't six but we went towards the end of the event and they let her catch one.

She was sooooo excited.

Aiden with one of his fish. They each caught two except Alaina.

Gavin was the first one to catch not only the first fish but his second as well.

Mason caught the biggest fish. I'm not sure if this is the one or not.

Anyway we had a lot of fun and my cub scouts will get a belt loop and segment for participating.

Camporee

2010-04-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

The boys had camporee this last weekend and ended having everything from rain to sun to hail. Got to love the Northwest. Hunter was the senior patrol leader and did a great job from what I was told.

2010-04-03T17:29:00.000-07:00

This years 11 chicks. We got several different varieties this year. I made this chicken tractor to keep the chicks separate from the hens. I only had a picture to look at for the pattern.

Dallin's tux he wears for choir. I think he looks quite handsome!!

Mystery Solved

2010-03-28T22:57:00.000-07:00

So I finally took Gideon to the Drs. There was no real reason, he wasn't fussy, he had no fever, everything he did was normal except he wasn't sleeping more than one to three hours. Finally I determined he had to have an ear infection. I was actually hoping because it would solve the big mystery. Turned out he does have an infection in his left ear.

Saturday he literally slept all day. Turned out I wasn't the only one sleep deprived.

Sleep

2010-03-24T09:46:00.000-07:00

Early to bed early to rise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise. I've always been a bit of a night owl but the times in my life when I have followed this have truly been the most productive. It's been six months since I first started itching. Six months of serious sleep deprivation. Last night Gideon didn't go to sleep until 2:30. Todd is really good and lets me sleep in, the boys get themselves ready for school. I however, am so ready to go to bed early and wake up early!!!! I have never been this tired for this long. It's funny how life teaches you little lessons. I understand the value of that little saying so much better now. It's a good thing Gideon is #7. My patients has grown with each one and I have managed to lose it only 3 times, and even those time were pretty tame. Mostly I just let him cry until I got over it. Usually I can still smile and kiss him. Sleep however has become quite precious.

Fist in Mouth

2010-03-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

Gideon is funny he doesn't suck on any particular finger. So sometimes he has his thumb, sometimes his whole fist and the other day he fell asleep with his thumb and two fingers.

Man like voices

2010-03-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

Interesting things happen when your kids get older. Dallin and Hunters voice have both pretty much changed and Dallin now sounds a lot like his dad. A little while ago my sister called while I was in the shower and Dallin answered. She asked if she could talk to me and Dallin said that I was in the shower. She responded something like this. Well what are you waiting for shouldn't you be in their with her? Dallin was like, Uh Aunt Ingela this is Dallin. Of course Ingela lost it and was still laughing when I managed to call her back. So callers beware!

Accidental Tradition

2010-03-18T09:20:00.000-07:00

When Dallin was in first grade the school sent home a note that the kids were to build leprechaun traps and then bring them to school on St. Patricks day. Usually when the kids were at lunch or recess the leprechauns would trash the room and spring the traps. We spent a lot of time on those traps the first few years the boys were in school prior to us moving here. This new school doesn't do that and I have been pleasantly surprised with the way it has evolved into us making traps here at home. The boys do all the work rigging all sorts of booby traps. Everything from sticky tape so they get stuck on it to trip lines. Every year the leprechauns leave notes stating what they thought of the traps.

I have really grown to love this tradition. Each boy gets so creative. Mason spent probably two or three hours making his room a serious trap. He even whispered to us how it was supposed to work so that the leprechauns wouldn't hear. The traps were so good this year that they wouldn't even attempt to go in the traps and get the bait for fear they wouldn't get out.

2010-03-17T12:39:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite times of the year. Spring!! Here are the reasons I love it!

1. The anticipation that comes from waiting all winter.

2. The plants and animals all seem to just come alive with renewed energy and excitement.

3. It means I get to spend my days outside.

4. Its the time to plant new plants.

5. I get to start preparing my vegetable garden.

6. My children play outside more.

7. Winter cold is gone.

8. Days at the park begin.

The list could go on but Alaina just asked to go to the park and little brother is awake so off we go.

Better pictures of turtles

2010-03-14T21:31:00.000-07:00

This is for Aunt Heidi who said she loves turtles. Hopefully you can see them a little better in this picture. They are on the log directly in the middle of the picture. The log was full of them.

Boy to Young Man

2010-03-12T15:28:00.000-08:00

Dallin's first shave. Todd was on top of things and remembered to take pictures.

Gavin and Alaina's Birthday

2010-03-12T15:18:00.000-08:00

Sunday Gavin, Alaina and I celebrated are birthday with the Hogman clan. This is my little girl who is surrounded by so many boys. Gavin's gift was the storm trooper gear, Alaina's was the snow white dress of course and as soon as she got the chance she combined the two.

Gavin currently loves lego's and he spent about a 1/2 hr. that night putting them together.

Alaina also got this adorable bear that sneezes and coughs and carried it around for days.
Alaina's cousins surrounding her and making sure she knows how everything goes.

I'm Baaack

2010-03-11T22:31:00.000-08:00

So I don't know what my problem has been in posting, just procrastinating I guess. This was Gideon a little over a week ago in Florida the day he went to Disney World. Only kid in the Kestner household to go to a Disney Park. Too bad he won't remember any of it.

Pelicans perched on an old pier. No matter the day or the time you could always see them here.
View from the back porch of the house I stayed in. The back of the house was mostly windows as well so I would just sit and read and occasionally glance up and look at the beautiful scenery.
A picture taken at manatee springs. Yes I did get to see manatees and there is no way they were mistaken for mermaids. Even a love sick sailors couldn't possibly go as far as to see a beautiful women from a manatee. I also got to see a crocodile. Notice the turtles on the log.

Colds

2010-01-11T19:18:00.000-08:00

Gideon has come down with his first cold. He is only the second of seven that made it two months before getting his first cold. Not bad considering he is the only child I've had during winter flu season. Of course I am now coming down with his cold, bummer.

Chores

2010-01-06T02:32:00.000-08:00

So with the new baby I'm having a harder time keeping on top of the housework. Amazingly the new baby seems to have the same effect on my boys because they just can't seem to do anything either. I'm sure the Wii has nothing to do with it.

After much thought I decided to give the boys two options. First they could opt out of doing chores and spend every waking moment in their room so as not to mess up the house for the rest of us or second they could do the chores assigned them and do them well and get an allowance for their effort.

Today they all unanimously decided on the second option. I am currently sitting in a clean vacuumed house and all I needed to do was take care of baby, clean kitchen, fold laundry and make dinner. Success! We will see how long it lasts and if we can afford to continue to give them an allowance.

Gideon's blessing

2010-01-03T22:42:00.000-08:00

We had Gideon blessed today. It was a beautiful blessing. Ingela came over a couple days before to take some blessing pictures. I thought she did an amazing job!! I will post some of the other pictures later.

Hangover Scramble

2010-01-03T22:12:00.000-08:00

January 1st Todd participated in a fun event at the Washougal Motorcross Track. He got very muddy and spent about an hour and a half going around a 3 mile track twice.

Clean bikes.
Prepped and ready for the mud.
Dirty bike, dirty Todd.

Christmas craze

2009-12-17T18:03:00.000-08:00

Christmas is rushing at me with tremendous velocity and I can't seem to slow it down. I have shopping for only one child almost done and other than having the tree up I have done nothing else. It may have something to do with the five hours I spend nursing and burping my little one and thats on a good day. So as a result I am in serious rush mode. Six more kids to buy for and gingerbread houses to make and a house to keep clean. Its a good thing I like this type of crazy.

Fiddler on the Roof

2009-12-06T22:56:00.000-08:00

Dallin is in the High School Play, Fiddler on the Roof. He plays the Rabbi and one of the Russians called Sasha. He gets to do a cool Russian dance and had several speaking parts. He did a great job and I loved watching him on stage!!

2009-12-06T22:48:00.000-08:00

We went and cut our Christmas tree on Saturday, one of our favorite tradition, and came back with two really beautiful ones. One of them was for Sandy.

We got a smaller tree this year due to space in our living room and the boys got a kick out of showing me how strong they were. Below is Aiden holding it all by himself. I was pretty impressed.
Mason looking like it is oh so light.
Hunter had to do a little extra to show he's stronger then Aiden. He is straining just a bit.
Dallin had to show that not only could he lift it over his head but he could walk with it too.

2009-12-06T22:42:00.000-08:00

Pumpkin Fuss

2009-11-29T20:01:00.000-08:00

So I have never nursed a new baby over the holidays and thus had no idea that pumpkin would be a problem. As soon as he started getting fussy I tried to determine what could be the culprit. The whole time, over 24 hours, I continued to consume Sandy's wonderful pumpkin dessert.

Now when you can't eat chocolate it cuts out a lot of dessert options so I was truly enjoying the one dessert I could have. Sad to say Gideon does not like it when I eat pumpkin. Bummer!!

More baby pictures

2009-11-25T11:06:00.000-08:00

Gideon sitting in my lap all curled up like he was before he was born.

Chillin in bed.
Bright eyed and bushy tailed.
Proof of his dimples. It only took us about 20 pictures to get it.
About as content as a baby can get.

Heavy Rain

2009-11-25T11:00:00.000-08:00

We had some very heavy rain and a drain that was plugged. Which meant that we had a small lake in front of our house until the city could come unplug it. The boys thought it was great.

Lost Clothes

2009-11-13T14:52:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week Todd and I cleaned up our room and I decided to pack up my maternity clothes and unbox my regular clothes. Of course I had to keep out a couple of maternity jeans until my butt and thighs return to normal size. Anyway after boxing up my maternity clothes I went into the attic to retrieve my other clothes. I couldn't find them anywhere. I sent Todd up there looking for them as well just in case I overlooked something and after 45 minutes he too came down empty handed. Now there are only so many places to hide things and I am at a loss as to where they went. I am afraid they got mixed up and sent to the goodwill.

Todd jokingly says I planned the whole thing. I guess it would have been a smart move on my part if I had the money to replace an entire wardrobe. As it is I am stuck in mostly my grubby clothes. I guess it is fortunate that I am not taking baby into the public for a couple of months. Seriously what idiot loses a whole wardrobe. I still have hopes that they will show up.

A few more baby pictures

2009-11-06T18:55:00.000-08:00

Proud Daddy. The sticker Todd is wearing says that he passed the screening at the door for flu like symptoms and was allowed in the hospital. This was taken just before we left.

You can tell how petite his little face is in this picture by the size of the newborn binky.
Getting his weight about a half hour after he was born. I think babies always look huge in pictures.

2009-11-05T17:05:00.000-08:00

We were excited to welcome our 7th child into our family November 3rd at 10:30 am. He weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 17 3/4 inches long. He has reddish blond hair and is a little sweet heart. After much thought we finally named him Gideon Eric. We brought him home today and got everyones picture but Hunters who was at wrestling practice. I will add his + other pictures another day.

Halloween

2009-11-01T05:44:00.000-08:00

Halloween turned out to be a success even though I was so totally fried from lack of sleep and the fact that on Friday Gavin came home sick with the flu. Turned out he only had the 12 hour deal and was able to hold down food all day on Saturday. He however had to wait until today to eat his candy, so that his stomach wouldn't be shell shocked. My boys mostly make up their own costume ideas. They love having their faces painted. This is Gavin as a bloody ninja.

Hunter was invited to go trick or treating with his friend Rio. He is a corpse that died from hanging. Oops I guess corpses can't die but you know what I meant. Todd had to look on the internet to learn how to tie a noose knot. So if anyone needs to know how, just give Todd a holler he is now an expert.
Aiden is Frankenstein. Unfortunately the flash in this picture washed out his face a bit.
Mason is dementor from Harry Potter. For those that don't know they suck the souls from people.
Here is Alaina as Pocahontas. She was not happy that everyone was getting their faces painted but her. We added rosy cheeks and that seemed to help a little.
For those of you that are wondering were our other child is he was the casualty of my total lack of sleep. I seemed to miss getting a picture of Dallin. I think it was partially due to the fact that he was fixing his costume clear up until the time we walked out the door.

Odds and Ends

2009-10-28T08:13:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would throw in a few pictures that didn't actually go together but were fun anyway. This is Dallin on 80's day for Heritage HS. Not easy in a household were things not used or of sentimental value are given away. He asked hey dad you have any 80's clothes and this is the best we could come up with. The hair was borrowed from a neighbor. He was pretty excited about the way he looked.

A couple of weeks ago we had a little philmont for the four stakes in the area. It was an adult meeting but the main speaker President Gibson from the general YM presidency asked for two youth to help him out that night. Todd volunteered Hunter. It was a great experience and Hunter was beaming the whole time. Pres. Gibson gave each of the boys a really neat coin that had the whole armor of God on it, in addition to that he got a really cool wooden tie slide thing.
This is Alaina in one of her many pouting poses. I just had to get the picture. I thought it would bring her out of her pout as well but no such luck.

FHE Halloween prep

2009-10-26T21:53:00.000-07:00

The annual Halloween pumpkin carving FHE. They worked hard and scary jack o lanterns eventually arrived.

Our beautiful rooster

2009-10-26T21:49:00.000-07:00

He was the man, afraid of nothing but the lead hen. Chickens and humans really are not that different.

Wet Willies

2009-10-18T21:11:00.000-07:00

Mason told me today that Alaina climbed up on his bed this morning to wake him up. He was already awake however and was watching her threw slitted eyes. He said that she proceeded to put her pinkie finger in her mouth and when she pulled it out promptly stuck it in his ear. How is that for a three year old with five older brothers. Some of the things she does seem so out of character for a little girl.

The other day she informed me that she really likes bugs but not spiders. That is thanks to the influence of her 10 year old brother. She wrestles with Gavin and other boys her age. One time while wrestling with a boy in our ward that was her age I saw her hit her head hard and expected her to start crying but she acted like nothing happened. Then about a minute later the boy became interested in playing with someone else and she came and sat on my lap and cried quietly.

A couple of weeks ago I had a friend come over and chat and she brought her five year old son with her. The second Alaina was introduced to him she said, "I have cool lego guys you want to see?"

Even with all those brothers she still is all girl. She likes her nails painted and her hair pretty and loves to hang out with her aunts and girl cousins. She loves to go shopping and put on pretty clothes. I find it so much fun to watch her interactions in our family.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-15T20:36:00.001-07:00

One of my favorite things to do during October is to go to the pumpkin patch. We have always had the rule that the kids could pick any pumpkin they just had to be sure to be able to carry them. It has been fun over the years to watch them struggle with the biggest pumpkins they could manage. Gavin and Alaina are two of our children that have realized small pumpkins are better because they are not that hard to carry. This year she looked at me and said, "Mom I want a small one."

Here is all the Kestner cousins, around here anyway, with their pumkins. Not a bad haul.
I didn't want to put every child's picture with their pumpkin but had to put this one in because it really is a beautiful pumpkin. Plus you can see that our older boys can easily walk away from the pumpkin patch with the biggest pumpkin. Boy they grow up fast.
Our children's six pumpkins.
Just thought this was a cool picture. At the time I was frustrated because you can't see my kids but after I got it home I liked it. The only one that is mine in the picture is Hunter. He is standing up top in the middle.

Relatives in town

2009-10-14T21:55:00.001-07:00

We were fortunate to be able to spend four fun days with Aunt Kitty, Aunt Heidi, grandma Kestner and cousin Karen. It was a very enjoyable and relaxing visit.

A Simple Swing

2009-09-29T08:38:00.000-07:00

Isn't it amazing how something that should be so simple can turn into such a nightmare. About a month ago Todd took all the boys on their annual boys camp. That left just Alaina and I to do something fun for a couple of days. To end our fun weekend I bought a swing that is meant for inside. She was really excited and I got the hardware to install it downstairs.

Now the swing was for Alaina but I knew it would be too much to ask for the boys to stay off of it, so with that in mind I went to Lowes and asked them what would be best. They gave me their advice and I headed home to screw in the bolts. I screwed in the six inch 1/4 inch bolts almost all the way in when one by one they broke off. To my horror I now had four holes with metal stuck in them.

Frustrated I went back to Lowes and explained my dilemma. They suggested a longer drill bit and walked me over there and helped me pick out the right one. Sure this would work I headed home to put in the swing. Alas the same thing happened and I now had 8 holes in the ceiling beam with pieces of bolts forever lodged in them.

At this point I am not proud to say I gave up. However a week or so later I explained my dilemma to my handyman father. Something I should have done in the beginning. He said to get a bigger, not longer, drill bit. I explained to him that the Lowes employees had informed me that in order for it to hold the weight I needed it to hold, not to get a bit that was more then half the size of the bolt. He reassured me it would work and so I went back to buy my second drill bit.

Interestingly enough this time when I went back to buy a new bit I got a different man to help me and this guy asked me what kind of material I was drilling into. When I told him a wood beam he directed me to some different bits. Turns out the last guy hand picked a cement bit for me to use. Turns out those just burn through wood. Anyway to make an end to a long story this time it worked. We now have a swing in the basement that Alaina can not get enough of, and so far it has held the weight of all of my boys.

I also have the hardware to put up another hook to hold the punching bag we bought almost 6 years ago but has never been put up. This family needs it hung up, so they don't use each other as a punching bag. I figured I would give myself a week before attempting to bolt another thing to the beam however.

Amazingly you can't see the holes in this picture but they are there between the two hooks. Eight ugly holes I must now patch and paint. It will probably get done sometime in the next three years.
She now watches tv from her swing. That is what she is looking at in this picture.

Todd and Aiden Camp out

2009-09-26T15:20:00.000-07:00

Todd and Aiden enjoying some hot chocolate around the campfire that Aiden got to start.

Getting to be the only boy to start and then play in the campfire is quite the highlight of these camp outs. I know this because it is usually the first thing they talk about when they get back.
Todd gave Aiden free range with the camera and he took full advantage of it. Here is one of his silly poses.
The went on a hike today. I love this picture. You can tell how thrilled Aiden is to have time by himself with his dad.
The hike has come to an end and it's ready to head home to 4 brothers and a sister.

Fun at Grandma Kestners

2009-09-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

Todd's brother Andy was in town due to the salmon run, so we had the opportunity to spend a lot of time up a Sandy's. The kids had a blast playing with their cousins and enjoying the nice weather.

One of the days they played tackle football. They had a lot of fun with only a couple of minor injuries and a couple of temper flare ups.
Alaina walking the lawn mower around grandma's five acres. Drew is behind her. Todd got them both on video but not in still shot.
The kids have missed grandma's truck and riding around the five acres, so it is with great excitement that the tradition is back, thanks to Nathan's truck.

Fishing on the Lewis

2009-09-18T18:03:00.001-07:00

Andy's two beef cakes. Todd got skunked this time.

Projects

2009-09-12T09:09:00.001-07:00

I haven't been doing anything new and exciting lately and haven't taken a single picture since the last time I posted. My house and yard are slowly coming together however. I started some fall projects and since some of them involved organizing it meant the house got messier. Yesterday I did manage to finish one of the projects and now you can walk downstairs without stepping on something. Yeah. Todd was excited about it too. Now I just need to fold a weeks worth of laundry, yuck.

Processing

2009-09-06T02:05:00.000-07:00

I have spent hours and hours this summer trying to lay aside food for the winter to feed my hungry horde and thought it would be fun to show some pictures. I currently have about 75 pints of jam, 32 quarts of pears, 14 quarts tomato sauce, 53 pounds frozen blueberries, 20 frozen zucchini bread, several baggies filled with zucchini candy and last but not least fruit leather. I still have peaches I need to buy and process and am still getting yams, tomatoes and zucchini from the garden. Oh and the kiwi should be ripe pretty soon. Plus I have about six rabbits ready to butcher and one rooster. I admit I will be glad when harvest time is over I am tired of standing in the kitchen.

First Day of School

2009-09-03T08:23:00.000-07:00

Dallin in front of Heritage High School. I had to meet him there around 7:30 because he had seminary before school and we are carpooling. He's a good sport to let me take his picture in front of a bunch of other high school students. We did try to be descreet and I did let him choose the spot.

Hunter in front of Covington. Starting his 7th grade year.
Mason, Aiden and Gavin in front of Silver Star. They are starting 5th, 3rd and 1st.
Alaina of course couldn't be left out of the picture taking. You can tell by the attachment to the blanket that she isn't quite ready to start school. All of the boys were extremely excited for school to start. Mason will be starting band this year and gets to be a part of safety patrol.

Celebrating Eric's birthday at Jones Creek

2009-09-02T06:25:00.000-07:00

A good friend of Todd's, the same one that Todd went with when he rode off the cliff, invited him to go riding for his birthday. Todd of course can not refuse an offer to go motorcycle riding and went into work early yesterday to make it possible.

Todd after the day of riding. No crashes this time. Although he did inform me that about 2 minutes into it he nearly crashed. Todd says it is a full body workout so that makes it essential that he ride often. He also mentioned that he went down some switchbacks that made him want to cry. Notice his nice riding gear. That was thanks to mark, who gave it to him.
This is Eric Dahl, the man who made yesterday possible due to his birthday. It's nice when your hubby can find someone to do all those cool guy things they like to do. I like riding but not quite the way they do.
This is Eric's brother Mark it was he that gave Todd the great looking gear.

Preperation

2009-08-30T16:07:00.000-07:00

It's amazing how you can plan to do so much and then when the week is over it seems like so little. Yet at the same time you hardly had a chance to sit and take a breath. My plan for this last week was to get the house together and organized before school started more specifically the boys rooms. That being said I am currently sitting in a filthy unorganized house that I am sure is messier then it was this time last week. I ended up spending two full days painting and fixing up Dallin and Hunters rooms. They turned out great and I will post pictures of them after they get them all put back together the way they want. Other then that it was processing and picking fruits and vegetables and a myriad of other things. All of this and I was going to bed early and getting up early. Yet here I still sit in a smelly stinky house. My dilemma? I now only have two days before school starts and still have a list the size of the mississippi to get done. My only consolation is that somehow it will work out and when Wednesday comes around I will look back thinking aren't miracles great!

Motorcycle Dilemma

2009-08-25T07:44:00.001-07:00

Todd went into work really early yesterday so that he could go motorcycle riding up at Jones Creek with a friend from church. They had a blast but when he came home he was chuckling about losing his bike. When I questioned him more he informed me that one moment he was riding his bike and then suddenly he was sitting on his butt and his bike was gone. His friends were laughing because he "lost" his bike. I didn't understand how you could lose your bike but was quickly educated. Turns out his bike went off an eight foot cliff. Todd was fortunate to just end up sitting on the edge of the cliff rather then joining it at the bottom. What did he learn from this experience? According to his own words. "When I say hey lets go this way and Eric shakes his head and says I don't know, I think I will listen to him next time." One can only hope right. Meanwhile it is still my belief that boys and men have got to have more then one guardian angel around them at all time or else the women would grossly outnumber the men because they just would never make it to adulthood or once there wouldn't be around long.

Hogman Family Reunion

2009-08-23T09:45:00.000-07:00

Oops I posted out of order again. Oh well, the reunion was a blast. Everyone got into the nerf wars even some of the adults.

Thanks to Terina and Jeremy we all got to go on a one hour hay ride. At one point we had both of the drivers on the cell phone. I got a picture of that as well but I have already put so many pictures on.
Aiden, Gavin and Alaina were all able to go on a 15 minute horse ride. They loved it. Alaina could have stayed on the horse all day. She wasn't happy when she had to get off.
We don't have a picture of Gavin because Todd and I were both leading horses at the time. Grandpa got a picture of Gavin on his camera though.
Slip and Slide was a huge hit. They played on it everyday. Thanks to mom and dad for buying water socks so we could have an opportunity to play on it.

2009-08-23T09:29:00.000-07:00

We just got back from the Hogman family reunion yesterday and had a blast!! Alesha was in charge of it this year and did a great job. We went to Ensign Ranch which is a church owned. We stayed in the lodge which was great!

The food was wonderful. Every family was in charge of a meal and then we had snacks and desserts. Terina got a little carried away with the root beer floats.

Todd had a little too much fun getting into the left over brownie batter. See what I have to deal with. Now you know where my kids get it from. :)
The lodge had a ping pong table, a pool table, shuffle board, and a foosball table. Everyone loved and participated in playing the games. Alesha organized a tournament the first night and we stayed up till almost two in the morning competing. Mom and Dad won the shuffle board tournament with Todd and I coming in second and Dallin and Andreas coming in third. I don't remember who won the kids tournaments

2009 Boys Camp

2009-08-18T08:20:00.000-07:00

Friday they went for a hike and decided to climb this large rock pile. I believe it is part of an old lava flow. Gavin informed me that he fell through a hole but managed to keep from falling all the way which according to him was a thousand feet down. Rock climbing was Gavin's favorite thing. Todd and the boys went up to Mt. Adams for their yearly boys camp. It poured on them Thursday night and Friday morning, not what you want when your camping in August.

They didn't see the mountain until they were on their way home.

One thing Todd learned from their hike/camp out last year was that they need lots of food!! So this year he planned some pretty hearty meals. This was chili and according to the boys it had a slight peach cobbler taste due to the fact that cobbler was baked in it the night before. Todd said it was all consumed by the hungry beasts.

Playing Skip Bo together and having a great time.

15 years

2009-08-11T08:13:00.000-07:00

Todd and I celebrated our 15th anniversary last Thursday and were able to have the rare opportunity to spend 3 nights and 4 days alone on the beach. It was very relaxing. We spent quite a bit of time just walking the beach and talking. It's amazing how fast this life wizzes by. I can't believe it has been fifteen years. I guess it's a good thing it has considering we have a 14 year old but even that is amazing to me. It just seems like yesterday I was dating my spouse and trying to decide if he was the "one."

It has been a very joyful 15 years and I am looking forward to spending many more with him. In just another 15 my youngest will be 18 years old. The scary part is it will probably fly faster then these last 15.

Isn't my hubby handsome!!

Thanks to Mom and Dad for taking on six kids for four days. Thats quite the load. The boys and Alaina loved staying with you.

Changing the old for the new

2009-08-11T08:01:00.000-07:00

We got the inside scoop that the old Moroni was being replaced by a new one while the temple was closed and headed over there early last Monday to watch. It took the whole morning and a good part of the afternoon. Turns out the post didn't fit so they got it up there and then had to bring it back down to grind down the metal. Did you know the trumpet is screwed in.

Oops I forgot to turn these before pulling them in but am to lazy to fix it. Just turn your head.

Like I said it took hours. The boys and Alaina spent some time very bored. They are sitting with their cousins for anyone that doesn't know.

Couple of hours at Rock Creek

2009-07-25T17:45:00.000-07:00

It was another hot day so we headed up to Rock Creek for a couple of hours. It was perfect the water was in the shade and it was cool and refreshing. Mason and the boys and some other people that were there as well caught a bunch of fish, newts, and crawdads.

Camp Baldwin

2009-07-19T16:34:00.000-07:00

This last week Todd, Dallin and Hunter were at camp Baldwin for scout camp. They had a great time. Dallin was able to get 5 merit badges, Archery, horsemanship, canoeing, swimming, and camping. Hunter was able to finish 4 merit badges, horsemanship, canoeing, rowing, and swimming. He got a partial in fishing. You have to catch three different types of fish and Baldwin only stocks rainbow trout in their lake.

Dallin looking sharp in his order of the arrow sash and neck band.

I thought this was a really cool picture of Hunter doing archery.
Hunter on the horse hawk. He didn't like this horse because it was slow. His favorite horse was the one he rode on the overnighter her name was may.
Dallin riding lug nut. Dallin said he liked this horse.
Todd and the boys on the polar bear swim. They had to wake up at 5:40 am. They were able to get a really nice looking patch. They were the only ones in their troop to do it.

Klineline

2009-07-16T19:42:00.000-07:00

I love Klineline. It has been my favorite place to swim since I was a kid. Now they even have a water park as my kids call it. Its actually just an area were water sprays in several different directions. They also have a playground. I spent six hours there today knowing that it would be a warm one. It was so relaxing.

Technically Dallin wasn't actually with us today because he is currently horseback riding at camp Baldwin. Todd has the camera with him so I put in pictures of two weeks ago. I had to add this one because I thought it was funny. Dallin wanted me to take this picture really bad.

I even had to take it twice because the first one didn't turn out to his satisfaction.

2009-07-14T21:18:00.001-07:00

I find it interesting that whenever Todd leaves for whatever reason I have all of these plans yet none of them ever seem to happen. Somehow things always get crazier and I don't get anything done. Oddly I also think I will be going to bed earlier but that also is never the case. I'm so glad he doesn't travel often. I like him being around.

The 4th of July

2009-07-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

Funny how traditions can change when you don't want them to. Due to Vancouver's decision to do away with the Fort Vancouver Fireworks we had to do something different this year. Ingela had decided they were going to take their family and the Swedish girls that were staying with them to the beach this year. So the rest of us decided to tag along.

We had a blast. We decided that even if the Fort does do fireworks again we may have to occasionally head back to the beach for the 4th.

The boys or I should say kids since Alaina is in the picture decided to make a Fort of sorts. Not bad huh.

The older boys went underneath the boardwalk and took turns burying each other in the sand. This is a unique burial considering that they buried each other standing up rather then laying down. Turned out it was pretty difficult to get out of. It kept them occupied for hours.

Mason found several jellyfish that he thought was really cool considering they were more intact then the ones he usually finds.
This is our little setup. The weather was great. There was a bit of a breeze thus the blanket on the back of the pop-up. No one really complained of being cold so it worked great.
The very beginning of people lighting off fireworks. It was like a war zone. This picture shows how smokey it got. This was only the beginning. Todd, Ingela and my mom had to go down to the beach to breath clean air a couple of times and Aiden, Hunter and Gavin had raspy voices for a couple of days after due to the smoke.

The fireworks around us were great. The fireworks that the city of Long Beach put on were 40 minutes long and wonderful. We were right next to where they set them off so we were able to get the full effects. All in all it was a wonderful 4th.

Rodeo

2009-07-12T16:57:00.000-07:00

July 3rd we went to a rodeo. It was the first one my kids have ever gone to. This was the Vancouver rodeo which is only about a mile from our house and every year I say we need to go to that next year but then we never do. Money usually the reason. Anyway we were able to go this year and had a blast.

2009-07-12T16:44:00.000-07:00

I always end up posting things out of order but that's what you get for not posting for months. I signed in with the new updated version of blog and by so doing it no longer allowed me to post to my other blog. After trying to post to my old blog several times I finally got tired of it. So I just started fresh with a new one. Anyway I am trying to get a couple of the events of the last couple of weeks in here and of course I uploaded them in the wrong order meaning the older ones are first and the new ones are last. Oh well I hope you enjoy them just the same.

This was the camp out that Todd and Alaina went on July 2nd. They had sooo much fun. It was a bit of adjustment for Todd however. He came back saying how different girls were. I think Alaina has a bug of some sort in her hands. I can't remember what Todd said it was exactly.

Alaina's favorite part of the camp out were the treats. She only had two bites of her hotdog and then put it down and said, "Daddy I hungee." Which we know to mean where are the sweets.

2009-07-12T16:16:00.000-07:00

Todd decided this year that in addition to his yearly boy camp he needed to take each of his children camping by themselves. This las Friday was Gavin's turn. He couldn't have been more thrilled to have one on one time with his dad. They were going to go and camp on the siouxsan trail but it was washed out so they had to turn around and go camping at rock creek instead.

This was one of our favorite photos of Gavin during the camp out. It is so Gavin! The stick and his hand are in motion and yet he is stock still. I think he was acting out some sword play or something.