She's Back!

Not her...Or her...

Savanah's back!Savanah arrived home from girls' camp this afternoon. And soon had her little brothers dressed in her camp skit tutu. It brought back fond memories of her first day of kindergarten. As soon as she got home that first day my boys, who were content to play legos and build with tools while she was away, started being princesses and fairies. I'm so glad she had fun playing pranks, hiking, singing, and surviving on little sleep.

Just Me and Ma Boys! And Favors...

Savanah was SO excited to head to girls camp on Thursday, and Ryon flew to Texas on Friday...so it's just me and my boys. I didn't realize when I was having them what a sense of pride I would feel with all of my strapping boys in tow. They are as perfect as little boys get, extremely well behaved and fun, oh so fun! I took them to a couple stores today and Andrew was in a dancing mood. He did a little dance recital in the main aisle at Old Navy, every once in a while ducking back to laugh his hardy little laugh, and then to jump out and dance his heart out again. He was completely amusing us!
And Eli was so helpful! He always pushes the cart when he goes to the store with me. So, today he tossed 240 pounds of water softener salt onto the Home Depot cart and then pushed it around the store for me (I love it), while Nathaniel pushed the Andrew/Ryon cart (which was empty except one WD-40 can and the rope the boys were buying "because you can do so much with Rope especially if it will hold 244 pounds". I just thought if I was out with boys what better place to end up than Home Depot. What would I have done with a house full of girls? Maybe I'd have learned how to apply finger nail polish without painting half my arm at the same time. Anyway, this is such a precious time!

Ryon's 20th class reunion is this weekend in Texas. He didn't really graduate with this class, but he loved it, so went back this weekend. He called in a bunch of favors...a buddy pass, a ride from Austin to Corpus Christy, a place to stay, and food to eat, so he could party with the class of '89. Maybe I'll make it to my 20 year reunion...if there is such a thing:)!

A Day to Remember (and Forget)!

Saturday was a great recreational day! A true day of recreating our spirits after many months of intense stress, it was an amazing day to forget all our worries and just work hard at playing hard. Aaaaah! That's the sound of complete contentment!

Smile Break!

All the boys climbed a cliff and did some extreme jumping!

Amber & Todd patiently taught us to wake board one after another, after an other. Five year old Andrew was our star of the day, wake boarding on his first time out, making the rest of us (the Frisches) look like, "fat little bunnies" :). Andrew, Zach, and Ryon all cliff jumped into the water from 35 feet in the air (at least), the highest point any one jumped from yesterday. And Andrew was smiling after he was done... "I can do it!" is a great mantra for Andrew.

After I filled the photo card with 380 pictures (gone are the days of 24 picture film rolls) Ryon and Todd provided a six part totally entertaining inner tube battle complete with flips, huge spray, and lots of laughs, while a storm was rolling in, which completely devastated our picnic site (while we were away), but we were blessed to all be safe...easy-ups can be replaced. But a great day like yesterday, can't! Thanks! (But I could have lived my whole life without hearing "that" song (over and over again), who put that in there anyway? The young men's president?:)

Water Polo Championship Game

Eli started out as goalie (Notice the red cap, he's white #15 later in the game). He's really good at blocking lots of shots.

This was a fatal blow to (white #4) Savanah's right shoulder. She has a doctor's appointment at 2:30 pm to check it out, it's not dislocated, but she doesn't have full range of motion and it's painful.
This was just practice. His team was firing lots of shots at him.

Andrew patiently watched his older sister and brother play, even if it was 100' at 7:30am...was it? It was sure hot!

I've tried all season to get this shot (and it still evades me). When Savanah and Eli are rushing down the pool perfectly aligned I just want to capture that moment. Here Savanah is just in front of Eli...but you get the idea.

Nanas & Papas

My parents flew into town on Wednesday for a visit and to attend Zach's baptism. We had a lot of fun making crafts with Nana and playing games with Papa (with a beard). Nana isn't so fond of cameras, so there aren't many everyday pictures with her here. But it was sure fun to have them visit! My dad made me a new solar oven when he was here. Definitely an upgraded model!

It is quite possibly a dream come true... Papa Kirk is into FUN stuff and traditions. So, during his visit he performed the beloved tradition of the doughnut eating contest (assisted by Papa with a Beard for timing purposes).

I think this is the 3rd doughnut competition(taking over from the brain freezing ice cream eating contest...a half gallon a kid...talk about brain freeze)?... This time he only got 5 dozen doughnuts (once he bought them 9 dozen Krispy Kremes...can you say ugh, I didn't realize we could get tired of KK!). The rules are fairly simple, each round has about 1 minute in which you devour a whole doughnut, or you don't advance to the next round. And of course there are monetary prizes for the winners (Everyone)...could you even imagine such fun when you were a kid?Fittingly Zach won on his baptism day.

The Day Has Arrived!

Zach is a special boy. He thanked me for letting him get baptized (have I ever let on that I wouldn't?). He invited his best friends to his baptism (who aren't members of our church). His goals for the future include going on a mission and having a family and graduating from college (BYU). Yesterday he was baptized and lots of friends and family came from far and near to be a part of our celebration. THANKS everyone! I'm grateful to Ryon for baptizing Zach and to Zach for having such a great love for the gospel and the scriptures (he is so excited to own his very own set now). (A special thanks to my mom and dad for traveling so far and tolerating the heat! To Nana and Papa Kirk for bringing cousins and driving so far, you had your hands full! To Marci for loaning me her awesome camera for the occasion! To all the kitchen help...Ryon, Sarah, Ben, Mom, and Dad...many hands make light work!) I love to watch my little children receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, they each have sat on a chair surrounded by grown men who all love them so much, encircled by the love of their Heavenly Father and their earthly fathers. The gospel is true, I'm so grateful to be alive today!

Do You Need Some Chickens?

The time has come... We need to get rid of our chickens. Although we purchased our first 10 chicks, the ones we have now have all been given to us...and it's time for them to go. I mean, we like them and all, but we need to get rid of them. So, if you want some chickens (for free), just give me a call. We have 2 that look like your traditional layers (brown eggs). And then a lot that look different. Some look like the ones pictured and some more exotic...come look at them. See you soon!

What's Happening

Ryon's new job is going great! He's working long, hard days, which are exhausting, but he feels so blessed that it is going great. He's feeling like every day is too short, and he told me he needs to stop burning his candle at both ends! Last time I posted a photo of him I got so many worried comments about him looking tired, I took it down. With my camera being out of commission I can't take a new picture of him, SO with the magic of Picasa...Here is a "new" old picture:)...Better? Not so tired?

BEFORE AFTER

This morning Zach woke up getting "sick" about every 15 minutes... He's such a good natured kid! Not a word of complaint, but you can't miss that heaving sound!

Ry only spent 2 days (instead of 2 weeks) in sea sprites when his teacher moved him up to sea horses, and his first day there the teacher mentioned he was better at all the swimming skills than the rest of his class mates, she asked who put him in sea sprites in the first place, (that would be me, his mother) I didn't answer.

Even with Zach not feeling well, we wandered out into the garden to try to pull out all the grass with the dirt being wet and all, because we did get about 1/320" of rain this morning (I'm not even exaggerating!). Luckily we had gotten irrigation on Tuesday, so we were pulling grass and Eli says, "MOM, come look at this..." "What is it Eli?" "Just come look." So, I go over to see a dead pumpkin leaf (huge) covered with these fat little diamond shaped soldier bugs (I don't know what they are called). And I couldn't tell if they had killed the leaf or just decided to use it once it was dead. None the less over 1000 bugs of the same kind in one place can't be a good thing. So, what would any farmer do? I went to get a chicken, it's fun to watch animals eat bugs...BUT the stupid chicken was more concerned with escaping from me than eating the huge juicy banquet that was laid out before her. I ended up picking up the worst leaf and shaking it out over a chicken coop with a hen and her chicks in it. The hen made a very special sound (not like her normal call when she looks all frantic and her chicks just totally ignore her clucking and walk away to investigate the world...some things are the same no matter what creature you are) and her chicks came running and went to work eating everything that moved, very entertaining, but I still had an infestation in my garden. So, we caught three different chickens this time (we have about 30 chickens/chicks now) and put their heads close to the delectable treat, and again, no interest (are chickens color blind?). I ended up pulling out the whole pumpkin vine and putting it the big coop, luckily there were hungry chickens in there, FINALLY!