"Before" Photos...

We're closing on our new house today! Here is what it looks like, before we go and paint it and move everything in. :D

Looking at the corner of the living room where I will be teaching lessons. (Standing in the kitchen.)

Family room, right next to the kitchen. That color on the walls has got to go.

View from Master bedroom into *dun dun dun* ... a MASTER BATHROOM! (we've never had one of those!)

View of Master bedroom from the Master bathroom

Girls bedroom

Master bathroom mirror :D

Kids bathroom

Yes - that wall is ORANGE. And the ceiling is YELLOW. I'm going to paint the other walls each a different color. This will be the toy room.

Boys bedroom - I'll be repainting this. It's too dark, even with the windows open - three walls are blue and one is green...

Downstairs bathroom... yay for three toilets!

Laundry/mud room - in between kitchen and garage

Kitchen - I like the green color, but they didn't remove any of the outlet covers, so it looks bad, and I don't think I'm going to be able to match that color exactly! :(

More cupboards in the kitchen

Kaleb's Baptism

July 30th, 2011

Kaleb was baptized! It was a wonderful experience. We're so grateful that Gma and Gpa Pemberton were able to travel here for it, and for all the family that attended. Kaleb has been working on overcoming his fear of the water for a long time, and we're so pleased with his decision to be baptized. There were two previous times that Kaleb attempted to be baptized and just couldn't overcome his inhibitions. So, it was a huge blessing for him to be able to do this.

We're also grateful for all the missionaries that have come to teach Kaleb about getting baptized and helping him to recognize Heavenly Father's love for him. Elder Peterson (on the right) was there for Kaleb for a few months before his baptism. His companion (we can't remember his name) had just gotten transferred, so we don't know the name of the Elder on the left.

Gma Pemberton gave a great talk about baptism. She spoke about when she became a convert to the church. Then Robert, Kaleb, the missionaries and Bishop Nelson went to the font. Kaleb didn't want everyone there to watch him get baptized, so we all waited. After about 45 minutes, Kaleb still had not returned, so I went to check on him. He was still too afraid to get in the water. Robert and David and I talked to Kaleb for a few minutes. I asked Kaleb if he wanted me to get in the water with him and Robert, and he said yes. So I went to change my clothes.

By the time I was ready, Kaleb and Robert were in the font, waiting. Robert and I spent another 15 minutes or so talking to him about his decision and that we would not force him to be baptized. We told him that we would both lift him up out of the water immediately, and we would not let him drown. He was finally ready to trust us. He placed his hands on Robert's arm, Robert quickly said the prayer, and immersed Kaleb in the water. We immediately pulled him up, he looked at us, and started crying, with a big smile on his face. A group hug ensued, as we spoke to Kaleb about the love that we all felt from the Spirit of the Lord at that moment. Kaleb couldn't stop smiling, and neither could we.

Later on we found out that during the 15 minutes we were in the water with Kaleb, Robert's brother David had requested that the family waiting in the other room pray with him. He offered a beautiful, humble prayer on Kaleb's behalf - that Kaleb would be strong enough to overcome his fears. Many special things came to pass to allow Kaleb this wonderful opportunity, and we are so grateful that he made the decision to follow our Savior Jesus Christ's example and be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Gpa Pemberton gave a great talk on the Holy Ghost after Kaleb came back in the room. Kaleb was confirmed and given the gift of the Holy Ghost the next day during Sacrament Meeting.

All the family in attendance (that we could round up. I think Macy, Rachel, and Mackenzie were running around somewhere.)

Kaleb with his buddy Chris Anderson, who also attended with his family.

Suzuki Institute 2011

For those of you interested in seeing pictures of the girls at Suzuki Institute (violin camp) this summer, check out this link.

Summertime

Here's a recap of all the fun things we were able to do this summer.

For a homeschool activity, we got to meet Brandon Mull, author of the Fablehaven series, and Beyonders. He gave a good presentation, helped the audience create a premise and setting for a story, and then the kids got to ask him questions about being an author.

Rob and the kids worked on building nesting box for the chicken coop.

building the box

The girls wanted to help by painting the old coop door.

nesting box in coop with the chickens

chickens in coop - getting bigger!

Sammy and Jen went to the splash pad with us.

Sammy was not quite sure about the water. Tessa was trying to get him to warm up to it!

Yeah! See? It's fun!

Elise being silly, Isaak looking for Kaleb

We had these awesome shish kabobs one night. Dave, Denise, and kids came over, as well as Ethan.

We make a good team. :)

Fourth of July weekend we went shooting with Dave and Miles.

I had to take my turn trying out Rob's shotgun. That thing kills your shoulder!

Rob was great with the shotgun. He hit a lot of the targets that Miles launched for him.

Gpa Pemberton's .22 rifle was much easier to shoot.

Funny picture - Isaak looks too young to be shooting that thing!

This is such a cute pic. This is my parents' atv.

The boys were playing on the atv - pretending it was a horse and they were Indians, I guess. :)

Feeding Sammy at Gma and Gpa's house before fireworks.

girls blowing bubbles by gma's pond

Here's a pic of the chickens from July... getting bigger!

With Emily and her kids at Herriman beach

The girls were a great help with peeling apricots to make jam.

All the kids helped pick apricots from the tree in our backyard, as well as a neighbor's tree. The boys helped peel too, but not as many as the girls did.

Stirring the jam. It turned out so yummy! We made apricot pineapple jam too.

I took the kids to the Wild Horse and Burro center up by Butterfield Canyon. It was cool to see all the horses and burros. You can make a donation and "adopt" a horse or burro. It would be fun to own our own horses some day.

cute little burro

old horse shoe

We got a new kitten in July. Her name is Stardust.

She fits in well. Thinks she owns the place. :)

Rob and his kitteh.

The girls participated in Herriman's musical this summer - Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. They were part of the children's chorus, and they did a great job.

Rob and I both got to be in the musical too. Robert played "Dan", and I was a wife.

Picture of us all after the show. I also got to play the violin solo in "Canaan Days", which is why I'm all fancied up in this pic. It was really fun to be in the show together, even though it took up a lot of our summer. Most of the pics I have are from Joseph practices!