New Calling

On Sunday I received a new calling at church.....I'm now the 1st Counselor in the Primary. I'm really excited about this, it will keep me very busy. I am a little stressed out right now I'm in charge of the Primary program which is in October, and it is not written yet. I have to have it done in a few weeks so the kids can start to learn their parts. If anyone has any ideas that would be great. Thanks

Camping with Grandpa & Grandma

We have been wanting to go camping all summer and now we finally got our chance to go. It was not as long as we would have liked but with Garrett's work schedule and other events it worked out ok. We went to Scootney about 30 minutes from our house, we needed some place close.

The park was really nice, we were really happy with the area. We got out there around 3:30pm which as alot later than we had planned on going but Chad and Jande's house got broken into over night so we went out to help them clean up the mess.

We were so happy that Sarah and Grandpa and Grandma McGary were able to come camping with us. It is always nice spending time with the family. Mary was also able to come down and eat dinner with us. We enjoyed boating during the day. I forgot to take my camera out on the boat :( After some time in the water we ate dinner, played around for awhile and then went to bed. The kids did great. This was our first real camping trip.

Sarah and the girls. They always have a great time when Sarah is around. We will miss her when she goes next year to school. Sarah was giving Madalyn some good advice about Kindergarten, like where to sit on the bus, what clothes to wear, what things to ask. It was really funny, but Madalyn was listening to every word she said.

Grandma helping the girls blow up some toys to play with.

Madalyn is exploring some great bike paths. It was a great idea to take the bikes. We really enjoyed our SHORT over night camping trip.

Braids

Last Saturday after the girls baths we decided to braid their hair. They love it when I take the braids out and their hair is wavy. It looked really cute on Sunday. It took me over an hour to do all three heads of hair.

Natalie had a rough beginning of the week with potty training. She has done really well the past month but on Monday she went pee all over the rocking chair. I had just taken her to the bathroom where she said that she didn't have to go, then 5 minutes later I find out that she has gone all over the chair. So I put her in time out (she knew better that time) while I clean the chair. After done clean up the mess 5 minutes max. I go to get her and she has pooped all over the floor and is playing in it. All i could do was SCREAM, I was so mad. It was so gross!!! She has done better since that day.

Last night Garrett and I went on a date, I was looking forward to a nice relaxing evening. I had a doctors apt first (I have had a bad cough for 5 months now that will not go away) after that we came out to see we had a flat tire, so we go to Les Schwab to get that fixed they tell us that it will be 20 min and 1 hr later we were done. I was so mad in there, this was not how I wanted to spend my night, and I keep thinking I'm paying a babysitter for this hurry up!!!! Finally we went to eat at Olive Garden, and rented some movies from Red Box and came home.

Garrett is finally done with his test for the new opening at the Fire Dept as a Lieutenant. He has been studying since Feb. for this test. He took the written test in May and passed that (only 5 men did) and the Rest of the testing just finished on Wednesday. He has put a lot of time into this we really hope he did well and gets the promotion. We will not find out until the 21 of September. Keep your fingers crossed for us, we could really use this.

Run

This past weekend was the Spokane to Sandpoint Relay Race. Garrett has been doing this with my family since we got married. I think it is alot of fun cause I just go to watch and shop and the men do the hard part of running. This year the weather was alot cooler, we even got some rain.
Here is Garrett coming into the first exchange to hand off the wrist band to my dad. Garrett first leg was 4 miles, then the second leg was 3.5 miles and the last one was 7.2 miles which had alot of hills. For a total miles of about 15 miles.

Garrett and the girls after the race.

The girls are waiting for Garrett to run across the bridge. We had a great time in Spokane. The kids are all done school shopping and are very excited for school to begin the first of September.

Time is Flying by

I can't believe that July is over and school will soon be starting up for Madalyn. I was counting down the days for her to go to school but now I'm not sure I'm ready. She is my BIG helper, she will be missed during the day. We have done so much this month and I have not been very good at writing it down. So here is a few things that we have been doing this month:

Our Garden is bigger than we can handle. We have enjoyed planting a garden this year, but it is never ending. We have made Jam, frozen berries, canned vegs, frozen vegs, and are now enjoying making salsa. The girls are helping with beans.

Natalie is now potty trained. She has done really well for about 2 weeks. This is what she looks like most days when we are not going anywhere. No pants just underwear, princess shoes, a purse in her hand, pushing her stroller. She is growing up way to fast.

Sarah competed in the State Jr. Miss program in Pullman this past weekend. She did very well, she looked amazing and did great. She won the Poise Award. It was alot of fun. All of us girls were able to go without our husbands (they were all working). It was nice to be able to spend time with Emily, Karyn, and Jande. I don't think that I have laughed that much in a long time.

The four of us having a good time at the Jr. Miss program. Can you believe that EVERYONE but me is expecting a baby. Jande in October, Emily and Karyn both in January.

Here are some cute moments that the kids have had----

** Morgan was asked at church on Sunday who took care of you when you were a baby she said "my mom did" and then the teacher said who takes care of you now? Morgan said "Madalyn does". These two are best friends. I'm so grateful to have 3 girls so close in age. Let just hope Morgan can say that in 10 years also.

**On tuesday of this week Garrett got up to go to work and I was still asleep. He has to leave about 7:10 am the girls normaly wake up around that time and then come in and wake me up. But that day no one woke me up, i woke up at 8:30 and Madalyn had already feed the kids breakfast (cercel) and was reading books to them. Now you know why I'm going to miss her when she goes to school.

7 years

Can you believe it ?????? It has been 7 years yesterday that Garrett and I got married. We were up at the cabin on the 25th so we didn't get to do anything for it, but garrett wrote this really nice poem for me. I look back and I loved every minute of these past 7 years, we have gone through alot together and I hope that we have many more years together. I love you Garrett.

The Lake

Last Saturday the girls and I went to our families cabin up at Priest Lake Id. There we had a Eppich Family Reunion. What a beautiful place. It is one of my favorite places to be.

Madalyn, Taylor, and Ella these girls had so much fun together.

Natalie did great up there, I had started a week before we went potty training with her, she is now almost all the way potty trained. She hates to wear diapers and loves her big girl panties. She caught on really quickly.

We love everything about the cabin. It is always hard to come home, a week is just not enough time. We played lots of card games, went huckleberry picking, rode 4 wheelers, water skied, went on walks and spent lots of time just visiting with family.

Morgan, Madalyn and Me going for a ride on the jet ski.

What a nice relaxing vaction!!!!!

Swim Lessons

The girls finished swim lessons two weeks ago. They improved so much over the past year. They can swim very well. Madalyn learned how to dive and three different types of swimming. She was amazing, she is a fish in water.

Morgan did great also. Her body has a hard time in colder water so after about 30 mins. she was wanting out. She has no fat on her body to keep her warm. She learned to float, and does a great job at the arrow float.

Royal City

On Tuesday we went out to Justin and Heathers house. The men went fishing in the early morning, and came home around noon with nothing. I hate fishing and coming home with nothing especially when you wake up at 4 to go.

When they got home we went to this pond that a family had built out in Royal. It was so much fun. You slide down on your bum or a tube. This is an amazing slide they have built.

You can get going really fast. The water shoots you down, you go flying into the pond. Madalyn and Selia

This is looking down from the top.

Looking up at the slide. I wish my dad would make one of these it was so nice, and so much fun for the kids.