Josh is ELEVEN

At Josh's last pack meeting he finished earning everything Webelos. He earned all 22 pins, with the help of his wonderful scout leader and his dad.

He and his family walked across a bridge that symbolized the fact that he's bridged to Boy Scouts from Cub Scouts. His new 11 year old scoutleader is his dad and they do something together with a few other boys every Sat. morning. Josh has a binder with all his future scout stuff planned out. He and his dad have planned the Eagle Scout project that he'll do in 3 years. They're going to get a ton of baseball mitts donated, have the scouts and volunteers clean and oil them. They'll ask the Major League teams to donate autographed balls.

But here's the best part. . . after he's finished his Eagle Scout Project, Josh and his parents will go to South America to donate all the equipment to underpriviledged children. Yay for me!

Damian and I are so very proud of Josh and his accomplishments. He's a wonderful young man and I'm so thankful for this day that Josh was born, eleven years ago. Happy Birthday to my sweet little (big) boy!

October Bdays

We Idiarts have 3 birthdays to celebrate in October: Elise on the 15th and Josh and Christine were BOTH born on the 22nd! We all came home from church to have a big family party and Grandma and Grandpa Idiart were visiting from their mission! What a fun surprise!

Josh went shopping with Aunt Allison and showed her everything under the sun that he wanted. Then, she took orders from all the aunts/grandmas and went later and picked things out for him. He was really excited opening his presents, knowing before hand that he'd get an assortment of things he really wanted. Pretty good system! She's such a nice Auntie!

I loved how ALL 13 of the grandkids crowded all around Josh. He loved all the attention, too!

Next, it was Little Elise's turn for presents. She's already had a cute bday party, earlier in the week, with her baby friends. It was a polka-dot tea-party, and her polka-dot skirt matched all the party decorations! Her mamma is so creative and Elise is a little darling.

This particular present was the highlight of the night. Allison made a special frame for Christine. All the adults knew about it and gathered round to see her reaction. She was so happy and brought to tears with the emotional feelings that came with the gift.

The top photo is of Christine Elise, as a toddler with Donna Gardner, her mom. Donna passed away when Christine was young. Christine really misses her mom and loves her very much. The bottom photo is of Christine with her little Elise Donna. What a sweet gift.

Here are the 3 October Bday cuties. And here is a little tribute to each of them.

Josh is a light in my life. He's 11 now and what a wonderful boy. He's so smart, talented and athletic. He's got a great sense of humor and he's very fun to be around. He's a natural leader and he tries to help others do the right thing. I am very proud of the young man he is. I loved him from the first minute I held him in my arms and will love him forever. Josh, you are a joy and I am having a great time being your mom!

Christine is one of my favorite people in the world. She's my sister and a dear, dear friend. I look up to her, I enjoy being with her, she makes me laugh and I love her. She's beautiful inside and out. She's a wonderful woman, wife and mother. Happy Birthday you young thing! I really wish she and Jared were going with Damian and I to Las Vegas this weekend. She loves U2 ALMOST as much as me and she's really fun to travel with. Darn it!

Elise, or Leesie, is such a gem. She is a little piece of growly heaven. I adore the chunky little angel. I love to watch her, she's so interesting. As she unwrapped her present, she crinkled up each little scrap she tore off, then waddled over to place it in a special pile. It took about all the other cousin's concentration not to "help" her. She just cracks me up. And her blue eyes and grand smile are SOOO cute! I love all of you Octobers! You're the BEST!

"Ketchup" on our Utah Trip!

I never finished posting about our 3 week trip to Utah. Click Here to read the first week highlights. Stay tuned for 2 more posts to finish out the "series."

Emma went to a BYU Volleyball Camp and stayed in the dorms for almost a whole week. I snapped this right before we took her home. She's with her "counselor." She had a great time and learned a lot. I attribute the fact that she made 7th Gr. Varsity to her time at BYU.

These are the girls Emma shared a bathroom with. She roomed with a girl from home, but hung out with these girls her age from Highland, Utah. I think we're related to the one in the pink shirt, Rachel Asay. I need to talk to her parents and find out. They're all still good friends and Emma hopes to go to camp with them next year! They text each other a few times a week.

While Emma was busy, we played with our Davies cousins. Damian's dad's cousin Valerie is just a few years younger than us. Her 4 kids are the same ages as ours. We love them, they're such great kids. We had a few sleepovers and day trips and truly enjoyed them. In this picture are the boys: Spencer, Benjamin, Tanner and Josh.

I took the kids to a great community pool/water park in Lehi to meet up with my BF from High School, Emily, and her girls. I'm including pictures of her family in my LAST Utah post! Ben enjoyed being silly with this Frog. Reminds me of a pictures of myself . . . taken 17 years ago!

After a fun day at the pool and Chuck E. Cheese's, we went back to Grandma Ashton's for a camp-out. Aren't these girls so cute together? Katrina enjoyed swapping clothes with Jordan, the first cousin she's met that's HER AGE! She was in heaven! In this photo, they could be twins. They really do look a lot alike!

The boys camped outside and I couldn't resist moving Josh's fingers 2 mm to pose his hand with Tanner's. They didn't really "hold hands" while sleeping, but they are VERY good friends, so maybe next time??

The girls chickened out and came inside to sleep. McKenzie and Rachel looked so cute in all their blonde splendor, I had to take a pic.

The next morning, we met their mom and hiked the Y. Val had never done it, if I remember right and I hadn't done it since '93! It was much harder than I thought and luckily, we started pretty early, so we missed hiking in the HEAT.

Josh, Rachel, McKenzie and Katrina on the Y.

Ben, on the Y, enjoying the view of Utah Valley.

Katrina looking at BYU campus from the Y.

These boys, Spencer, Tanner and Josh are CRAZY! I just couldn't watch them too closely, for fear that they'd fall off the mountain. Boys will be boys!

Here we all are together! Right before Damian and I married, I was roommates with Val for a few months. She took good care of me . . . she cooked, she cleaned, she helped me address my wedding invites. She was a good friend and a good "mother" to me. I love being around her, I count her as one of my dearest friends and wish we could be neighbors! We've known each other for 13 years and have 9 kids, combined! WOW!

The next morning, we met with the Davies again and went to Seven Peaks Water Park. It was a blast! My parents and sister Briana and brother Eric drove up to go with us, too. The kids had a great time hanging out with my family. Grandpa is CRAZY on the waterslides!

Emma got to go two afternoons to the Water Park. Once with her volleyball camp and once with us. She enjoyed it a bunch! What a cutie!


After a full day of sun (notice Rachel's burn line!) the kids are tired out. We left to come home to Oregon soon after this. We sure had a good time!

Emma, the Setter

This little cutie is EMMA! She made the Varsity 7th grade Volleyball Team.

Her team is undefeated and her last game is next week. We are confident that the Scenic Spartans will RULE THE VOLLEYBALL WORLD!!

Who cares if she's GOOD? Doesn't she look cute in her knee-hi socks?

Aunt B & Uncle Sem

My only sister, Briana came to visit. She's been in the states for a few months, working. Her husband, Sem, came to visit her for 3 weeks, to celebrate their 1 year anniversary and they took a weekend trip to Oregon! The kids LOVE Briana and enjoyed getting to know Sem.

Briana and Sem enjoy fine foods, just like Damian and I. We had a great time taking them to all our favorite restaurants, including "Chateulin" in Ashland.

The morning that the littler kids had a Primary Program Practice, we went to my favorite breakfast place, Morning Glory, also in Ashland. After breakfast we shopped in cute stores. Emma bought herself a scarf, she was so inspired by Briana and Sem's love of scarfs!

Damian and Emma had never been to Morning Glory and they loved it!

Aren't we SOOO cute? After Breakfast and shopping, we picked up the other kids and toured Jacksonville. We enjoyed the toy store and the Italian Gelato store! I'll be visiting for Gelato, whenever I miss Briana and Sem!

Briana picked up a darling hat on our shopping trip. After all the excitement, we came home to relax. I loved how Briana brings out the "Silly" in Katrina!

While Sem made his amazing quiches, using fresh ingredients from the Ashland Farmer's Market, Briana and I played games with the kids. We started with "Quip It!" and then moved to "Curses!" It was a fun afternoon!

We miss Briana and Sem already, and hope to see them again, soon!