Happy Birthday Little Brother!!

Today Nathanael is turning 12, 12!! I can't believe it!! It seems like only yesterday that he was coming home from the hospital... okay, so maybe I don't remember that much, but anyway... I can't believe that now he is a young men and he can get the priesthood! Time sure does fly by fast.
Some things that Nathanael has done this year are:

• finished 11 year old scouts and is now on to Boy Scouts
  
• went to scout camp for the first time
• started middle school

He has done many more things (I just can't think of them all right now, because let's face it, a year is a long time to remember stuff). I will let my mom do the rest of the mother, sentimental stuff). We are very happy to have Nathanael in our family (sometimes :)). He makes life... interesting, in a good way. Life would not be the same without him, through the good and bad. Happy Birthday on your 12th birthday, little Brother, and may you have many, many happy birthday to come.

Love,
Your Big Sis

*Note: Pictures to come about his birthday soon.

What were you doing at 6:20AM yesterday?

Well, I don't know what you were doing, but I was at WHAM 13 getting ready to do this with Doug Emblidge and Holly Maynard (sorry you will have to copy and paste)

http://www.13wham.com/mediacenter/local.aspx?videoId=209046@wokr.dayport.com&navCatId=212

This was so much fun!!! I was so nervous, but afterward it was so amazing!! I would love to do it again. Before we did our segment, we saw them do other segments and see the weather and meet Marty Snyder. It was such an amazing experience and the best part was that it was all fun for me. There was never a, 'Oh I have to do this' or 'I don't want to do this anymore'. It was always fun when you found out something new or found a piece of information that was missing before.

I loved doing this and now that it is over, I am kind of sad. Oh, well, I guess I can do more of mine now. Who knows, maybe I will find that I am related to Doug or Holly. :)

Trip to Grandpa's House

Nathanael went to our grandpa's house when I went to Girl's Camp this past week. Then on Saturday we went to go get him and we spent the day there. We did many things:

We (Rachel) found some (many) toads

and of course Rachel had to hold them when she found them.

We fixed some things (Our grandpa has a fix-it-shop in his garage. People bring him things and he fixes them.)

We took two tractor rides (sorry this picture is so bad quality)

to the hill at the top of our grandpa's property (He owns 72 acres.)


It was absolutely beautiful at the top.

We had a great time having a day in the country!! We can't wait to go back soon!!

What is this?

I know what this picture is because I took it, but in my family we are having some issues. My parents think it is some kind of rock thing and they have convinced my siblings of that too. I really don't think it is that hard to see what it is, but maybe it's just because I took it. So, I decided to post the picture and see if anyone can figure out what it is. Please leave a comment on what you think this picture is. Thanks!

Rachel's Soccer

I know that this post is long over do, but better late then never, right? Rachel played soccer every Monday and Wednesday for June and July and loved it. This was her first year playing soccer, so she was a little hesitant a first, but by the end she was going and kicking the ball. She probably takes after her Uncle Scott who has played soccer forever. She can't wait to play again next year!

High Adventure

I went to High Adventure with the Young Women at our church to the Adirondacks on Tuesday the 4th to Friday the 7th. I knew going in to this that we would be doing alot of hiking, just not this much. I did one 8 mile hike, to the top of Phelps Mt. and one 9 mile hike to Avalanche Lake. The 8 mile hike was not hard in the beginning, but the last mile was all straight up and very steep with many rocks.. well boulders. The 9 mile hike was easy compared to the other one. Once you got to the top it was breathe taking. It was difficult to keep going when it was all up hill, but it was worth it when you got to the top.


Us starting our journey to the top of Mt. Phelps (sorry it's so dark).


The dam that was 2 miles into our hike.
The mountains that were by the dam.

I loved the reflection in this picture.

Our hiking group in front of the mountains at the dam.

The fabulous rocks that we had to climb over (this was the easy part of the rocks).
The mountains when we got to the top of Mt. Phelps.


Me at the top of the Phelps "standing" next to Mt. Marcy.
Our hiking at the top of Phelps with our gold bandannas for our new Young Women's value, virtue.
This is where the avalanche happened, hence the name avalanche pass (we were going to the lake, so it was not really uphill).


This is the beautiful Avalanche Lake that as at the end of our 9 mile hike.


Me and the lake. There was this very old boat at the lake, so we took our picture in it.

This is our whole group of everyone who went to High Adventure.

I had a fabulous time at High Adventure!! We did have some pain afterward, but it was so worth it when you got to the top. I can't wait to go to High Adventure next year, maybe with just a little less hiking, hint, hint. :)

Three dogs, one house...

This is the story of what happens when you put our dog, Hope


our "regular" dog that we watch every week from Thursday to Saturday, Abby

and the dog we are watching for this week, Winnie

you get total chaos, but that's what were all about right? Chilson chaos.


It is really not that crazy, I just like exaggerating. It was a little weird having three dogs in our house. Abby was only here for a few hours while Winnie was here anyway. Anyway, we have become the doggie hotel, if you are leaving and going out of town, this is the place to leave your dog... just kidding, not really:)