FHE to remember

We went whale watching for family home evening today. A lesson the kids might remember. We found a pod of 12 or so Humpback Whales bubble feeding. It was kind of scary how close we happened to be the first time when the curtain of 1' diameter bubbles was hitting the bottom of the boat. They came up about 30 feet away from our boat.

It was amazing to be out there. We stayed a little further away the rest of the time much to Cody's chagrin. We were cursing our camera the whole time out there and wished we had a better one.

Sunbeam or Sun-Beep?

My children and I were singing songs one evening and someone suggested we sing "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam."

We started singing and North sang right along with us. His version was a little different.

He sang,
"Jesus wants me for a sun-beep."

Nicely the girls just let him sing it his way.
However, when he caught on that they were saying, "Sunbeam"
He corrected them:

"It's Sun-BEEP"
he told them again and again.

Extra Visitor

Early this morning, I heard a familiar noise of a bang then our garbage can tipping over. I tapped Cody and said, "Bear" He then ran to the room my sister, Dawn, was sleeping in and asked, "Do you want to see a bear?" She grabbed her camera, jumped up, and followed him to the master bedroom. The couldn't see him because the bear had gone up the driveway. So they went outside to see it. She snapped this picture.

the bear up the driveway

a zoomed in view of the bear

Then Cody started up the driveway after the bear and Dawn and Amber followed in pajamas. We were chasing the bear. We were a little noisy, so the bear heard us, turned around and saw us, and then took off running. I guess he just wanted to join the party.

Where to Sleep

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Q: Where do you sleep 17 people in a three bedroom house?

(sharing cots in the garage)

(on the floor)

(in their clothes)

(very close together)

(in shared bunk beds)

A: Wherever they can find a spot!

WHY?

Sometime with all of the hassle of cleaning the house, rearranging, and planning what to do with a houseful of family for the next week, and hoping the weather will play nice we ask, "Why are we doing this?"

Then we see the fruits - COUSINS PLAYING IN THE GREAT ALASKAN OUTDOORS!

the little girls

the older girls

the boys.

They played outdoors for hours. They even roped aunt Amber into playing capture the flag with them.

OH THE MEMORIES!

First Day of Fishing

As soon as they got here, Cody whisked Brett off to get a fishing license. THey got back and rounded up the first set of kiddos to go fishing. Mind you, the rest of the family would be arriving in just a few hours. But there was no waiting for them.

Brett and his fishing license.

Can we help...

clean the fish?

Or at least take pictures with them?

PRICELESS!

It was the Asay boys and the little girls. THe other girls and North got to stay home. They caught 10 salmon. Then they got to help wash and clean them. The girls were not so sure they wanted to hold the fish for a picture.

They're here

My family came today. The first ones to make it were Dawn and her family. If you ever fly here to Ketchikan, you have to take a ferry from the airport to the island of Revillagigedo (which is the island we live on.) The ferry is short, but not cheap. $5 for adults, $2 for 7-12 year olds and 6 and under are free. (or it could be under 6 and 6 year olds are also $2)

The Asay children on the ferry.

The Ferry ramp from our side.

Pioneer Day Picnic

July 24th is a day that as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we celebrate Pioneer Day. In Utah it is huge. In other places not so much. Our ward up here celebrates it with a picnic on the Saturday closest to the 24th. It is generally a fun day at the beach. Everyone brings hamburgers, hotdogs, or whatever else they want to throw on the grill for their family and a salad, chips, or dessert to share.

We eat, play in the water (well the kids do), and enjoy each other's company. We have the picnic rain or shine Most years it has not been rainy. It is often overcast, but most years, we are able to enjoy the picnic.

This year pie eating contests and watermelon eating contests were added into the mix.

North really enjoyed the eating part.

Cody and Autumn did some snorkeling.

Autumn and Abby competed in the pie eating contests.

Autumn ate her pie and won her race.

Abby had a different strategy:

Smear it all in her hair so she wouldn't have to eat as much.

April was oblivious to the pie eating contests and just played in the sand.

She did come over in time to join in on the watermelon eating.

Day at the Park with friends

July really has been a beautiful month. One day we decided to go play at the park at the kids' elementary school. We called some friends who live close and they came to play as well.

The younger kids enjoyed playing on the slides. It is still so fun to see what it does to their hair on a sunny day.

Jaden's hair after sliding down.

April's hair after the slide.

It doesn't have quite the same effect on North.

Meanwhile, the older ones were playing with a truck that had stuffed animals in it and the hill they are not allowed to play on during school.

Getting ready to make the "path" for the truck

Jake making the first run of the "path"

Abby following up smoothing the path out

READY, SET, ...

GO!

"...I think I don't want to catch that speeding metal truck ."

They found some empty firework tubes that they used as swords and had sword fights.
Even the little ones got into it.


At the end of the day, we had a lot of fun and enjoyed the sun at the park.

4th of July

Fourth of July was fun. Here in Ketchikan we have a parking lot with booths from non-profit organizations. The youth from our Ward have a corn dog booth there. Cody got to spend a lot of time helping out at the booth, so the kids and I did the parade without him.

We started the morning with a pancake breakfast and flag raising ceremony at the church. Normally I put ribbons in my girls hair, but this time I made braided headbands. I also made April a little 4th of July dress. It was perfect weather for it too.

Autumn walked in the parade with her softball team and the rest of us enjoyed watching it and getting our fair share of candy.

By the end of the day April was becoming patriotic herself. If you look carefully you can see that the blue die from her dress was makeing her skin turn blue. Her cheeks were getting some color to them and becoming pink, and the rest of her skin was very white.

Family King Fishing

We went fishing for kings as a family one afternoon. We also went with Brent Chandler and his daughter. We had a blast, and the weather was wonderful. The camera was basically out of batteries, so we were lucky to get the pictures we got and unfortunately got none of the girls.

Me (Heather) reeling in a fish. It fought hard and took a while to reel in.

North likes to fall asleep when fishing.

The day's catch.

Well, actually it was only a couple of hours of fishing not a full day.

Princess April

When asking April what she wanted for her birthday she would tell us "Princess Stuff"

She was our princess for the day.

Princess April and all her presents

April sporting her new glasses in her chair

Blowing out the candle on her strawberry pie

(Our oven wasn't working)

I SPY...

What do you see in this picture?

1. Halloween costumes

2. Blankets

3. a doll

4. a stuffed animal

5. crayons

6. a small Book of Mormon on

7. a pair of jeans

8. Tonka trucks

9. a bag full of puppets

10. ...

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

A LOST SLEEPING NORTH

Now the Story:

The kids were all playing outside, and as far as we remembered, they had all come back inside. After a little while, we could not find North. We looked all over the house, and all around outside where the kids play. We called out for him and No North. This was very strange, because he is not one to wander off. Cody got on his motorcycle and rode around the block and down towards the library - places we often walk together. Still no North. We decided to call the police. (My hopes were that he started on a walk and someone found him by himself and took him to the police station, which happens to be about 3 blocks away.)

As I was giving the dispatcher his description I noticed the boots he had been wearing were on the floor as well as all his other shoes, so I was worried that my poor boy was somewhere out there without any shoes on. I finished giving her the description and then continued to look in the house - under beds, deep in closets, etc. I think I actually picked up a blanket and that was when I saw my little boy asleep in the Uniqua costume against the wall on the bed among all the costumes, blankets, and toys.

I quickly called the police station back to let them know I had found him and went outside to tell Cody - who was already being told by the policeman that was about half a house down the road.

North woke up about 10 minutes later. He had changed his clothes and gotten in the costume all by himself, climbed on the bed, covered up with a blanket and fell asleep.

It gave me quite a scare though.

Bad Hair Cut

Abby wanted her hair cut for her baptism. She wanted a bob. I normally cut her hair and I do an ok job, but nothing spectacular. So I decided to take her and get her hair cut this time. After all she's getting older. I took her in and told the lady I wanted a bob and to bob it as short as her hair line would let it go. I had a friend that was just finishing up when we got there so I was busy visiting with her as Abby was getting her hair cut. When Abby came over, I mainly just looked at the front which looked cute. Plus we were stretched for time with her baptism in just an hour or so.

The next morning she woke up and I got a better look at her hair, and I couldn't believe that I had paid for this:

Not only is it not a bob,

but her hair in the back is about 1 1/2 inches longer than her hair line, and...

since when did a bob involve layers in the back?

I took her back on Monday and a different lady "fixed" it. She still didn't have a bob, so finally when my family was up (later, in August), my dear sister Amber gave her the bob we had hoped for in June.