It has been a long time since I've posted anything on my blog.  Life seems to fly by at the speed of light.  Right now we are enjoying the slower pace of summer, although it still seems to be rushing by.  But, it's nice to not have homework, early mornings, and running from this school event to that sporting thing. 
The past school year was a good one but as always we welcome the summer with open arms.  I thought I'd highlight some of the things that happened this past year, 2016/2017

1. Ian was baptized in December of 2016.  It was special, as baptisms always are, and he was so excited about it!  He also started piano lessons.  He has some natural musical ability and it's fun to watch that blossom.  He was part of a small group singing in church for mothers day and he did such a good job.  You could hear his voice clear as a bell above all the others and he sounded awesome!  He also did soccer for the second time this past spring but doesn't love it.  He was fun to watch play, not for skill as much as other funny antics.  He doesn't want to do it next year.  Sports aren't really his thing with the exception of Mtn Biking and skiing.  He went biking with Tyson a while back and really seemed to like it.  I love that they are involved in sports they can do with Tyson as a hobby. 
2. Tyson and the boys loved skiing as usual.  Kellen went for the first time and loved it.  We had a lot of snow this winter so that was fun, most of the time.  It got a little old because they don't plow the side streets so some of our neighbors got stuck a lot!
3. Matt joined the MTN biking team for the first time in the fall of 2016.  He loved it.  He and Kaleb will both be doing it this coming fall.  The races take place in some really scenic mountain locations which make it fun for the whole family.
4.  We had 2 family reunions the summer of 2016.  The Harlin reunion took place in a cabin on Lake Cascade that is owned by some members in our ward.  The Moore reunion took place in Mammoth Lake California.  Both were a ton of fun.  While in California we were able to go to Yosemite.  That was pretty awesome!  If I could have my wish it would be that we owned a camper and spent some time each summer traveling to different state parks.  That would be awesome!
5.  Matt turned 14 this January 2017 and is currently working for the summer at scout camp as a CIT(counselor in training).  He is loving it and seems to have dodged the bullet of homesickness.  We are happy for the opportunity he is having there.  Matt has enjoyed band, mostly, this year.  It's been a little tough as he and the teacher tend to butt heads but he has some natural talent on the drums.  We especially love to listen to him play in the jazz band.  He also got to march in his first parade.  We will see if he will continue band next year.  It's hard for him to enjoy it since he doesn't dig the teacher too much.  We'll see what happens there. 
7.  Kaleb was in choir for the second time this year and enjoys it.  He looks forward to choir next year, his first year at Les Bois Jr High.  The choir teacher there is supposed to be awesome.  Kaleb has also started taking piano lessons.  He really enjoys music and sports too.  He is pretty well rounded when it comes to those things.  I know he's really looking forward to the Mtn. biking team.
8.  Kellen had his first and only year in preschool and loved it!  His teacher Mrs. Patricia is the best and we are so glad he enjoyed her class for one year before starting kindergarten this fall.  Kellen is looking forward to that.  He has enjoyed taking swim lessons the last several weeks and loves to be in the water.  He also has done some beginning Mtn biking with Tyson and the boys and loves it.  Mtn. biking and skiing seem to be our thing. 

As I started to look at pictures to add to this post I was reminded of even more we have done.  I guess when you haven't blogged for a year and a half things add up.  I think I will just post about a lot of these things separately.  I'll just post them by event, in separate blog posts.  It will be a lot!!

Here are a few pictures....

Birthdays!

This will basically be a picture post to document another batch of birthdays going by.  Five out of our six birthdays have come and gone in a matter of two months.  We have one birthday in December(Ian) and 4 in January(Tyson, Matt, Me and Kellen)
That's a lot of celebrating in a short amount of time.   It always makes it a super busy time of year with Christmas and New Years mixed in there too. 

Tyson's 37th birthday.

Me and Kellen's birthday.  I turned 36 and he turned 4.  Tyson's in the background lighting the birthday candles.

Our annual birthday morning picture.

He was so excited for a friend birthday party this year!

Ian turned 7.  He is so excited to be baptized on his next birthday at the end of this year!

Matt turned 13.  That is just crazy to me.

Taking Matt to school in the early morning on his Birthday.

Rock Climbing

Matt has been begging me to write a blog post about our family rock climbing FHE.  To say that Matthew loves rock climbing is an understatement.   He is basically obsessed with it.  He must take after his Uncle Ryan who lives and breaths it.  Look at Ryan's family picture I took recently.  Here it is below as evidence. (See all the rock climbing gear?  It is a family affair and they love to do it together.  They are a pretty awesome, outdoor family!)

If only Ryan lived here so he could take Matt all the time and he would stop bugging asking us to go all the time. ;) 

So, we went a few weeks ago.  Everyone enjoyed it.  I was a little busy watching Kellen as he jumped around like a little mountain goat on the big rocks and boulders at the base of the cliffs we were climbing. 

Matt was so happy because he got to lead climb a route.  We went to a place called the Black Cliffs.  They are less then 10 minutes from us.  That is one of the reason's I love where we live.  Lots of fun outdoor things are super close.  Here are some pictures from our evening of climbing.

Trying to stay cool.  The sun was pretty hot.

Matt was ready to go with all his gear.  He actually saved his money and bought most of this on his own over time.  You can't see it in the picture too well, or at all, but in the distance is downtown Boise.  It's a pretty neat view from this spot.

Kaleb wanted a picture of the water in the background.  That's part of the Boise River off of Highway 21.

He's handsome. :)

I love his smile!

He enjoyed wearing my sunglasses to keep the sun out of his eyes.  They look great don't they? :)

Tyson getting ready to belay Matt.

Trying to get the lead climb going.

Potty break.  Boys have it easy!

Kellen getting ready to "climb" for a bit.  He looks like he only has one leg but he has it up against the rock behind him.

He kept asking, "Where do I put my foot now?"  He loved it!  That's about as far as he got.

Kaleb was a great helper.

Can you see Ian in this picture? 

My Baby

I was looking at Kellen sleeping today.  He is just beautiful and I never tire of looking at him.  One thing I noticed, that you can't see in this picture, was his arms.  They aren't looking like little baby arms anymore.  They looked longer and thinner.  They looked like bigger boy arms that come as they grow out of that baby-ness. How did that happen?  Suddenly they aren't babies anymore.  Next year he'll be 5!  That may not seem old but when I think of him I still think of a little 2 year old running around.  He's growing and changing.  I love to see it but it also makes my mama heart a little sad.  I think no matter how big he gets he'll always be my baby.  I'll probably hold and cradle him when he's a teenager calling him my little squish and my baby.  A weird image I know. ;)  I'd like to know from more seasoned parents whose babies are grown, do they still look at them as their babies?  I imagine they probably do. :)

Shaking Off The Dust

The other day in Relief Society I was sitting by a sister who had spoken in sacrament meeting.  She did an awesome job and I told her so.  I asked her if she likes to speak and she said she likes the preparation and study that getting ready for a talk brings.  I can totally relate to that.  I told her it's like shaking off the dust.  We can all be a little complacent in our spiritually study, at least I know I can. I can feel like I've been sitting still, when it comes to my spiritual study, maybe gathering a little dust.  Then your asked to teach or speak and you have to get up, shake that dust off and jump headlong into a gospel topic.  I do love that feeling, shaking off the dust!  She seemed to like that analogy and I hadn't even thought of it until it came out of my mouth and I thought, "Yeah, I like that analogy too."  It makes sense to me since I sometimes find myself experiencing that in my life.

I know there are some people who are great with their spiritual gospel study and that's awesome.  It is definitely something I could always work on and I try to.  Last year I started teaching in Relief Society and that helps me to shake off the dust more often and there is less dust too!  I find myself, listening and reading my lesson at least weekly, sometimes a few times a week, up to the point I teach.  The week leading up to the lesson has more intense preparation as I sit myself down to actually take my highlighting and notes and put them together into a lesson.  It's a great opportunity for me to learn, be spiritually fed and strengthen my testimony.