The crazy days of summer are over at the Roderick house and the kids are back in school. Along with that comes the welcomed routine that comes with it. Even though our schedule is full, at least we know what's coming for the most part.

This is our "First Day of School 2008" Picture. Chad is off to 1st Grade, Morgan is in 4th and Mataia is in 7th. How did that happen?

Because we kind of miss the "vacation" part of "Summer Vacation" we seem to wring every last drop out of the break. The following are some of the pictures of some of the things we have done in the last couple weeks.

Grandma Patti wanted to take all the grandkids on a hike before they went back to school. On the day that we decided to go, our niece Peytan was sick and Mataia had volleyball tryouts, so they were not able to go. So Grandma took them and a friend to Harriman State Park on a hike of their own. What a good Grandma!

For the Big Grandkid hike, we drove over the Jackson Pass into Wyoming and hiked 3 1/2 miles into Taggert Lake. In hindsight, it was a pretty ambitious hike with the little ones. But we made it and everyone had a great time and the mom's got a great workout packing the little ones.

The kids were catching frogs at Taggert Lake and Chad decided to try and keep this one. It wasn't looking so good on the way down, so he let it go in a spring along the way.

Morgan (showing her muscles in the back), Chad is right in front of her and Kace is in the front. Our nephews Wyatt on the left and Nathan in the center. It was so beautiful at the lake with the huge mountains in the background!

Grandma with the grandkids at the beginning of our hike when we all had fresh legs. We ended up ditching the strollers about 1/2 mile into the hike because the trail got a little rough.

My sister Mindy and her husband Brett invited us to go to Ashton Reservior boating with them. Their boat has a nice stereo system and so we would crank the song "I Like To Move It, Move It" and the kids would dance and bounce around the whole time they were on the tube. It was a blast!

Our niece Libby on the left, Chad and Kace getting a big squeeze from Nathan.

There were several families in our ward who rented a cabin in Bear Lake and went down for a few days. There were 22 kids under the age of 12. It was pretty crazy, but lots of fun.

Kace is famous for taking a nap on the boat. Our trip to Bear Lake was no different.

Jeff took Kace on a tube ride with Carson Crapo at Bear Lake. The water was turquoise blue and beautiful. But it was a little windy and there were so many other boats that it was too rough to do anything but ride the tube.

We recently had our family pictures taken and this is one of our favorites of all of us together.

Kace is Mr. Photogenic. He always has the "Cheese" smile on his face. What a fun kid!

Chad - our Big First Grader! He started piano lessons this summer, too. He is also playing NFL Flag Football and his team is the Green Bay Packers and Jeff is his coach. I'm not sure who is having more fun!

Morgan is looking forward to learning about Idaho History in 4th grade! She is in piano and violin lessons and we are thinking about dance.....

Mataia is growing up too fast! She has 8 classes a day which are going to require some studying this year! She is on the 7th grade volleyball team and she is still taking piano lessons.

What more can a mom ask for?

July 15, 2008

This is the first time for our family blog. I am hoping to be able to add to this and keep in touch with family and friends a little better. If you don't have the time or desire to read up on what's going on in our family, that's fine. We just want you to know if we send you this that means we are thinking about you.

We have had a very busy summer so far with the girls both playing softball. Morgan played on the Crapo Custom Applicators team and they took 2nd in the Upper Valley Youth Association tournament. She played first base and was a great hitter! She had fun and made some new friends.

Chad played on a knothole (coach pitch) team that our business sponsored. He had a blast. There were not enough games for his liking! Now he's gearing up for NFL Flag Football that will be starting in about a month. Chad is ready for a ball to get hit to him on 3rd base.

Mataia also played softball on the Capital Ventures team that her dad coached. She played 3rd base on this team. They did very well and won the end of year tournament. She is now playing on an All Star team and we have been traveling to some tournaments on the weekends. They haven't done so well at these tournaments, but they are getting better each weekend. She plays 3rd base, or catcher usually on this team. It's always exciting when she gets up to bat because she is known for her great hits - even several home runs! I'll have to post this picture later - I can't find it right now.

As you can imagine, we have been very busy following these kids around this summer. In between all of this we have squeezed in some volleyball and basketball camps for the girls. We got a big inflatable water slide and the kids have been having a ball in their spare time playing on that and jumping off the bridge at the canal behind our house.

We took the girls to the American Idols Live concert in Salt Lake City last night and they had a blast! We had awesome seats and they got to touch hands with almost every one of the "idols." David Archuleta was the definite favorite of both the girls. Even Jeff and I had a great time!This is the girls reaching up for David Archuleta at the concert.

Kace is just having fun being a little boy.

We went camping with my parents last weekend. Grandpa and Grandma got everybody up in the morning and we went on a really pretty hike along a river. When we started seeing signs of bear activity, the kids were done and decided it was time to turn back.

While we were camping, Chad decided that he needed to become a fisherman. He pestered us until we went and got fishing licenses and took him fishing. Luckily, he caught a little one, but he's having a hard time understanding that you don't catch a fish everytime you throw your line in. It hasn't discouraged him, though. He wants to go every day and he's even begging to get up early and go at sun-up. He hasn't got his dad convinced of that yet.

Jeff is still busy at the office, which is a great thing. He is still the ring leader of the early morning men's running group. Many of the runners come and go, but he is always constant. He has even inspired me. I am training to do an overnight relay race with a group of other moms. It is 217 miles from Crystal Lake, Oregon to Bend, Oregon. We will each run 3 legs in a 24 hour period. It should be a challenge and an adventure. Hopefully I will survive.


Other things that have been happening:
-We helped my parents get moved into their new home. (They had to totally rebuild after their home was destroyed in a fire in November.)
-Mataia is finishing up the last few requirements for her "Faith in God" award before she turns 12 soon.
-Mataia is also preparing to attend Girls Camp for the first time at the end of July.
-Jeff is serving in the Bishopric of the Parker 1st Ward.
-We're trying to keep up with the weeds in our garden and crossing our fingers for some big "Super Pumpkins" that we have planted.
-Working on potty-training Kace so he can go to preschool in the fall.
-Working on potty-training our Toy Poodle, Maggie so she doesn't get given away.