Snow Camp at Mount Rainier

We knew this day would eventually come - Cameron's first snow camp! The Big Rock and Duvall Ward Scouts headed to Mount Rainier to build snow caves or igloos and spend the night. Drew is an expert igloo builder, so I sent him with Cameron to make sure Cameron would survive the night. (Most of the other 12-year olds dads were also there - guess all us moms were worried about their boys up there on the mountain!) They had over 12 feet of snow to work with, so they set to work.

Starting the igloo

The neighborhood

Lunch goes to the birds (ignoring the sign that says, "Don't feed the birds!")

Home Sweet Home

Demolition the next morning

What a beautiful morning on Mount Rainier!

Drew said it took about 6 hours to build the igloo. About 4 pm on Friday a few scouts gave up and headed home. But Cameron and Drew stayed the night, staying mostly warm and kind of dry in the igloo. Drew thinks he slept for about 3 hours that night between Cameron asking ,"What time is it" and trying to get comfortable. Drew definately wins bonus points for this camping trip!

My little boy's not so little anymore!

Cameron turns 12 this weekend! He's excited, and I'm still in denial. Where did the past 12 years go, and am I really ready to be the mother of a pre-teen? We have a weekend of friends and video games, a basketball game and a family birthday party planned.

Cameron is a great kid. He's very sensitive, and is great with younger kids, especially Megan. He still loves video games, but he's also a good soccer and basketball player and playes the baritone and trumpet well. And he made the honor roll at school the first quarter this year - yeah! And I love having kids old enough to babysit!

Happy Birthday Cameron!

Merry Christmas!

We had a good Christmas this year, but I'm excited to put things away and get ready for 2011. Before I finish off Christmas for this year, I'll post a few pictures from our festivities. We hope you all had a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve: The traditional reading of the Night Before Christmas in our new pjs!

Do these kids look ready for bed? Yeah right! Hurry or Santa will be here before you are asleep!

Cameron is excited...

And so is Jared (if you can find him hiding in all the wrapping!)

And just 4 days late, snow! Almost a White Christmas! Here Ryan is teaching Megan how to make a snow angel.

Duvall ended up with about 4 inches of snow. Perfect for playing in.

This weekend we are packing up and heading to Spokane for Drew's uncle's funeral. Drew's dad, Denny, is serving a mission in Romania for our church, and he is flying home for the funeral. So we are excited to see him this weekend. We all wish Grandma could come too, but we know we'll see her soon! (73 days, she said this morning!) Have a safe and Happy New Year!

SNOW!

After no snow last winter, we were all excited when the weather forecast predicted snow the week before Thanksgiving. And we were even more excited when it actually snowed! A whole 3 inches or so, but it was very cold and icy, so no school for 2 days right before Thanksgiving (the kids already had early release days due to parent teacher conferences). Perfect for sledding down our neighborhood hill. It was fun - all the neighborhood kids and the parents headed out for a beautiful morning of sledding and playing in the snow. If it snowed this early in the "winter", what are we in for this year? Bring it on!

On the way to his Eagle

Last night at our ward's Court of Honor, Cameron received his Scout, Tenderfoot, 2nd Class and 1st class rank advancements! He has worked hard this year, and had a great 11-year old scout leader who helped him get this far. We have heard that if Cameron could get through his 1st class by the time he turned 12, he would be well on his way to completing everything in time for his eagle. Now the fun begins with merit badges, lots of campouts and service projects. He is lookig forward to turning 12 in January!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! It feels like we've been celebrating Halloween for days now - our neighborhood party on Friday and the Halloween Party at church last night. I'll be glad when it's all over and the candy is all gone!

Fairy Princess Megan


Wizard Jared

Death Eater or Reaper or "Death" Ryan

"I'm not afraid of no ghosts!" Ghost Hunter Cameron

Watch out Megan!

Pumpkin Patch-ing

On a beautiful fall day, we headed to a farm in Snohomish for an afternoon of corn mazing, pumpking patching, mini-golfing and farm fun!

Megan loved mini-golf! She hauled around her putter, picked up every ball she could find (even if it wasn't her ball), and threw it in the hole! She thought she was helping! It was the funniest thing to watch!

Jared got the hang of it too.

Cameron - look Mom! I made it!

Ryan tried a different approach.

The Linerud Mini-Golf Team

Megan on the hay ride out to the corn maze.

The corn maze was in the shape of Washington state. So we set off in search of important places like Spokane, the Grand Coulee Dam and...

Duvall!

We made it out! The exit was at Grays Harbor.

Our visit wasn't complete without a stop at the pumpkin patch.

There were other fun things at the farm, including a petting zoo, a playground, a hay maze and a HUGE bin filled with dried corn that the kids (and adults) could play in. (Several of the kids came home with dried corn in pockets, underwear and socks.!) It was a great afternoon!