Sick On Sunday

September 2013

Aubrey had a fever on Friday night and not feeling 100% on Saturday.  I made plans to get a sub for my nursery class and let the Primary president know.  I arranged for the other three kids to get a ride from my parents.  Aubrey called her Primary teacher and let her know she wouldn't be there.  (She knew Sister Winfrey would give her lots of love over the phone.) 

Sunday morning Aubrey woke up just fine: no fever, no cough.  We could have gone to church, but it seemed a little awkward and complicated after all of the arrangements had been made!  We sent the other kids on their way, and Aubrey took matters into her own hands.  She got dressed in this lovely "church?" outfit, and we had Primary.  It was adorable. 




When I came into the family room, both couches were set up with scriptures and hymn books. 
 

Here she is setting up the Primary room.  She got dressed in her ballet costume, a sweater and my church shoes.  Love this little girl.

She LOVES to lead, and we sang quite a few songs!

I guess women's shoes made her an official Primary leader?!  We moved from one room to the next for class and then sharing time.

When I opted out, Aubrey once again took matters into her own hands and gathered her babies and continued to sing and teach.  She is using the IPAD to play songs from The Children's Songbook. 


We were sad to miss church but we had a wonderful morning thanks to Aubrey's creativity.  



School Shopping with Grandpa

August 2013
Shopping with Grandpa

My dad has a tradition which we all love.  He will take the grand kids school supply shopping.  The kids love having time with Grandpa.  He lets them pick their own backpack, lunch box, binders,  tennis shoes etc....  (It would be much less fun with me because I would have an opinion too.  Too expensive, too bulky, you might want to consider _____________.)  Grandpa just lets them pick.  I, on the other hand, love that with all of the expenses of a new school year, we aren't out another $400 on school supplies. 

The boys always seem to come home with crazy expensive backpacks that will hold your IPod and laptop and probably keep your food refrigerated.  A backpack any college student would love, I'm sure.   They don't need any of those extra pockets and gadgets, but they apparently appreciate them.  The girls come home with whatever looks cute.  This year Aubrey zoned in on the light purple...from her shoes, to her lunch box to her backpack.  Bryn chose a cute plaid backpack, but then thought she might want to take it back and get an over the shoulder bag for Jr. High.  They love going with Grandpa to make all of these big decisions.  As they use their supplies all year, they remember the fun adventure as well.  At the end of their afternoon of shopping, Grandpa treated them to dinner at Chick Fil A.  Thanks Grandpa!!


The kids were out front on the swing anxiously awaiting Grandpa's arrival.
 

   

Bryn showing me her new stuff.

Neon Green is the thing this year.



Tan was excited for his new florescent green socks.

Oh ya!  Happy new school year!  A big thank you Gramp!

 

 

Summer Fun!

July-Aug 2013

Summer Fun!!

Our summer started out more slowly because the first three weeks were spent in Utah. Apparently lots of things are scheduled for the first three weeks in June because we missed Girls Camp, Cub Scout Day Camp, G.T. Camp and more.  Once home, we enjoyed getting more settled in our new home.  (We had only been there three weeks when summer started and we left for three weeks!)  We spent lots of time with King cousins and Bird cousins.  We didn't sell Popsicles this year to the construction workers.(see last year's Popsicle blog post here)  The kids entrepreneurial spirit did shine through with a couple of lemonade stands though.   I enjoyed Zumba at church each Tuesday and Thursday morning while the kids played with the preschool children there.  Bryn enjoyed drama and theory camp.  Tanner, Aubrey and Parker participated in a basketball camp.  All in all, it flew by too quickly.  I was not ready for school to start this year.

Aubrey learned to ride her bike without training wheels!!

 





Swimming with the Birds!

Benja, Charity and Danielle. 

Taco Villa Mondays.  Every Monday my dad goes to Taco Villa.  He has for years.  Now that he is retired and usually only in town on Sunday/Monday random family members join him each week.  All are welcome.  The kids LOVE to go.  We actually only went a couple of times this summer....but pretty fun.
 



The boys had a lemonade stand in July and made $80.  Parker and Tanner were ready to set up shop the very next day.  I had to direct their attention to other activities! Ha, ha.  The girls had one a month later and made $40. (I guess the boys were cuter?!)  I love that they learn to run a little business.  They pay for the supplies.  They pay tithing and put some in savings.  They get to set up, clean up, talk to customers and have fun together. 



I also love that they can set up on the corner, and I can see them from our kitchen windows.



Tan loved demolishing this door so it could fit in the dumpster out back.

This may not look like fun but the boys love it because they earn some spending money.  Isn't Tanner adorable.  So strong and capable!  He and Parker are huge helps with the yard.



Back to school physicals.  Bryn sporting her lovely gown. 

 

Ouch!

August 2013

Ouch!

About a week before school started, Parker, Tanner and Aaron M. were playing outside.  They got the lovely idea to jump off the roof of the playhouse.  The playhouse roof is the same height as our house roof.  Not their brightest decision, but apparently that is just what crazy boys sometimes do. 

When Tanner jumped, his knee hit his face.  I had the unfortunate experience to look out the laundry room window just as he was flying through the air.  Luckily he got off with a badly bruised cheek bone. 


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Hopefully all of the attention he received from his battle wound will be outweighed by the pain....

We were actually planning on selling this lovely structure which came with the house because the kids don't use it much.  The backyard is not really large, and we (me and the kids--Bri's not so sure) want to get a trampoline.  The next week we listed it on Craig's list for $150 and it is gone.  So long little tree house.  You were fun while we had you.

One Sunday at church the Primary president had to come get me because Tanner's scab got torn off and there was blood everywhere.  A kid in his class purposefully pushed Tanner into a chair and then closed the chair on his head.  It was not a pretty sight!  Tanner is. tough though.  (and again...lots of attention that day at church, ha!)

Aspen Grove Family Pictures

Family Pictures

The last day of Aspen Grove we snapped these pictures.  I think especially because we are living in West Texas in the middle of a drought,  we really appreciated the beautiful nature and cool mountain environment.

Lakehouse Trip

July 25, 2013

Lake Brownwood

 

We haven't been to the lake in a summer or two because of the ongoing drought.  However, there was enough rain in the Brownwood area to warrant a trip.  The boat can even rest in the dock this summer because the water level is actually high enough, which is convenient.

Lucky for us (but not for them), Angelique and group went a few weeks before us.  They walked into a trashed lake house.  Apparently some teenage kids had a party or two in the unoccupied house.  This happened a couple of years ago as well.  Grrrrr.   Ang and group spent several hours cleaning up the place:  broken glass,  trash, filthy bedding etc....  It was lucky for us because the place was  cleaner than ever before when we walked in: no bugs, not dirt in the corners, no weird lake house smell.  (Thanks Angelique, Joseph and friends!)

Tanner driving the boat.  Everyone got a turn and thought it was pretty awesome.

The kids did lots of tubing and water skiing.  Aubrey was even able to ski on a practice board.  Bryn, Park and Tan were able to water ski for the first time.



Brian and kids were on the boat until the last bit of sun went down each evening. (I spent about three or four ours on the boat and called it good.  Usually Aubrey came inside with me.  We got the food ready, read books together and separately, and enjoyed  relaxing.)




They wanted smiley face tans!




Parker skiing.  We have lots of pictures of all the kids doing this.  Since they aren't the most clear shots, I'll just post this one.

Poor Parker

July 2013

Parker needed four permanent teeth pulled to have room in his mouth.  We waited until after a trip to the Lake house and then took him in.  He was very nervous but did great. 

 

This is when he was still on the nitrous oxide. (laughing gas)

 

He looked different for several hours because his entire mouth was numb.  He would smile but he pretty much looked just like this....kind of funny.

They let him take the teeth home, and we were all amazed with how HUGE they were.  He was happy that one of Aubrey's friends insisted the tooth fairy visit.  I was kind of thinking the tooth fairy might be broke after the $600+ procedure...but hey, she apparently was not because she came that very night. 

Free Chick Day!

July 2013

We LUV dressing up as cows and getting free Chick-Fil-A!

We also LUV having Aaron five houses down from us!

 

Hudson and Aubrey

Brit's fam was so cute Chick-Fil-A posted their group cow picture on the Facebook page!

Charlotte is such a doll.  A very happy, content baby.

Far back: Aaron
Middle: Parker w/ Charlotte, Tanner w/ Holden
Front: Hudson, Braddock and Aubrey

We all looked a little more cow like at the beginning of this adventure.  After you hold kids, serve kids, help kids, lots of spots fall off.









Aspen Grove

Aspen Grove 2013

We went to Aspen Grove Family Camp this year for our Vore family vacation.  We can't really call it a reunion because almost all of us live in Odessa and the two families who don't live in Dallas.  It is up Provo Canyon a great place to go as a family.  The meals are taken care of and there are plenty of activities for every age.  We had a wonderful time with family in such a beautiful setting.





 

We arrived earlier in the afternoon and were so happy to greet the group as they came up the canyon in the rental vans.  We were especially excited to see BRIAN/Daddy after a long separation.  But this is the picture we just had to take: Beck car sick and pregnant sick after her windy ride up the canyon.

Adorable boys at church in the beautiful outdoors. (Hud, Braddock, and Joseph)

 

Sunday morning they have church as usual.  Sacrament meeting is outside in the amphitheater.  The Aspen Grove staff, mostly young BYU students, have callings for the summer. (RS president, Sunbeam teacher, etc...)



Not Charlotte's best shot but she looked so adorable in her hat and I love this picture of my dad.
 

We loved getting to be with Griffin more.  He is an active and adorable two year old!

Brinley with her new friend Ashley.  I was relieved she had a buddy from day one because two years ago when we went to Aspen Grove, Bryn was the odd man out all week.  She made several friends this time and also enjoyed hanging out with family.

Denise and Bruce came up to visit us...well, to visit Brian really.  We stayed with them the whole week before.

Beck designed these cute shirts for us, and Brit made the girls awesome headbands.  This picture was taken during an afternoon of family challenges out on the field.  Our Vore cheer was "Good, Better, Best, Never let it rest until your good gets better and your better gets best! Go Vores!"

Each family was timed in fun, different challenges such as rolling a ball through wholes in tarp or building huge puzzles.

Charity, Angelique, Bree, Lauron, Holden and Tanner

The CRAZY hikers!  Brian M., Kerry and Adam did an all day hike to Timpanogos.

The kids LOVED the arts and crafts room.  They spent hours and hours in there. Tanner would beg to skip class so he could buy another ceramic.  Actually, thanks Uncle Chris, Uncle Kerry and Gram because I am pretty sure they forked up money for our kids to do a craft at one time or another.  (Stevie and Brinley)
 

  The scenery was beautiful.  (Charlotte, Ang, Brit and Grandpa)
 

Parker was brave.  He sat in the old fashioned dunking booth!

Aubrey was in the watermelon eating contest.  It was against adults too and she almost won!  It was impressive.

Uncle Chris enjoying some mini-golf with his boys.

Holden and Tanner looking tough wearing the ninja headbands they made in their group.

Max, Benja and Joseph being goofy.  (We loved that Max and Mason were able to join in the trip even though their parents could not.  Their dad is my first cousin.)   

Meals were a great place to meet up together again and mingle with cousins, grandparents, and aunts and uncles. We usually took 3-4 tables and everyone just sat were there was an opening.  I usually ended up at a table with one or two of our kids or with Brian, but I don't think we ever sat all at the same table.  (Hudson, Tanner and Braddock)

Mason spent lots of time teaching Tanner some basketball skills.
 

Ropes course!  Crazy fun! (Mason, Parker, Charity and Bryn)

We loved being in BYU country!  Hudson was able to go to BYU with Brit, Ang and Joseph.

This was such a fun day!  We took my parents rental car and squished the five ladies, plus baby Charlotte, into it for a girls day in Orem.  We hit the mall and Deseret Book.  We enjoyed a delicious meal at PF Changs.  It was fun to be off the mountain and hanging out just with the Vore girls for a few hours. (Beck, Brit w/ Charlotte, Me, Ang and my beautiful mom)
 

Going home.  Charlotte, Lauron, and Aub Daub

Unless you've done it, you just can't explain traveling with a group of  twenty plus family members all day long. It makes me tired just looking at these photos!   It takes a loooong time to get from Provo Canyon to Odessa.  It was cute to see everyone in little groups and one family helping another.  We tried to get a little area and keep things calm and contained.  I have to say I look at my sisters and am so glad I am passed the baby/toddler stage.  It is much, much easier to travel now! On a side note, one really nice man ordered a huge pizza from Sbarros and walked over and gave it to us.  It was so kind and really made me realize I should do more random acts of service.  All in all, another wonderful family trip spent with family, and it was so fun to come home to our new house that we had only lived in for three weeks!