Camping

This was the first year in 10 years we hadn't gone camping! So we decided we better hurry and go. We talked a little about it Thursday night and then Friday morning after Dan had gone to work we decided to just go. So when he got home Friday we hurried and threw stuff in the car and drove up the canyon to find a spot.

Our friends, the Bensons, came up and had dinner with us and smores. The kids had a good time running around the area. They were so excited that we finally got to go camping.

Allie and Ethan make me laugh, they are so cute.

Devyn told us a scary story.

After we cooked breakfast we were cleaning up because we had something Saturday morning. The kids had a blast trying to keep the fire going, as you can see it is nothing but smoke.

Hopefully we can get up there one more time before the year is over, the kids had so much fun.

How do you eat your corn?

My brother-in-law Jason thinks there is a certain way to eat corn on the cob. I have never really thought of this before so as we were eating dinner the other day I noticed how Jacob ate his a different way than I have ever seen someone. So this is for you Jason!

First Day of School!

On August 19th Devyn started the 2nd grade. I haven't been quite ready for school to start this year. Probably because I was hoping to be able to do a lot more before we went back to school but oh well, I guess it's time. She has been so excited, she would rather be at school than at home.

Her friends in her class,

Heidi - Devyn - Nicole
At her desk

Jacob started Kindergarten on August 26th, they started a week later and he is in all day Kindergarten. It is a little wierd to have them both gone all day.

So sad his faced is all washed out in these pictures.

All three of my kiddies

(Ethan started to scream 'I have to pee' in these pictures)

It's just weird to think it's just Ethan and I all day long. I decided not to put him in Preschool this year, I think he will just have one year of preschool, I'm glad that I won't be totally home alone, I'm not quite ready for that, I'm too young. But he kept thinking he was going to school too no matter how many times I told him, he was SO excited. I kept trying to explain that I am his teacher and we have school at home. We get to play school together this year.

My Kiddos

In the summer I'm usually pulling my kids here and there to take pictures we've been so busy this summer I didn't get any taken. I was so sad when I realized it so we went out the day before school started to take some photos.

I thought this was funny of Devyn rolling her eyes at her brothers.

Bye Bye Sis!

Well just 12 hours after we got home from Europe my little sister spoke in church (her farewell), which was her last Sunday before entering the MTC. She is serving a mission for the LDS church in San Fernando, California ~ spanish speaking. She is so excited. Here are a few pictures of our last couple days together.

~

Hermana Strong

Most of the siblings

(missing brothers Nate & Zach)

And our last time seeing her as she is being wisked away to the

Missionary Training Center

Bye Brookie! We will miss you!

To hear about her mission experiences you can click on HERE to see her mission blog my mom and I are keeping up for her.

We're Home

Well Dan had a 2 week work trip to Belgium and I wanted to tag along so I did. We were able to also spend a couple nights in Paris together (non-work related). It was a great trip. The families of the men he was working with took me around to different places in Belgium and I also got to go to Holland and see the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, which was a dream of mine. Hope you enjoy my pictures that are all backwards since I posted mostly from my Hotel room in Belgium as it all happend.

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The day we got home was on August 15th, Dan's Birthday. Since Europe is 8 hours ahead of the U.S. His birthday was 32 hours long. And the other cool thing about that was it was his 32nd birthday. The kids had a little suprise party for him the night we got home. Thanks to Grandma Olson for helping them throw a little party for their daddy. It was so sweet.

There was even a cheesecake

What sweet little kids, I missed them so much.

I was glad to get home and love them.

The last days of my trip
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Peter Paul Rubens House

Well I didn't know this when I went to Europe but there is a guy named Rubens who was a flemish painter. He was very well known for his art and even has his own room dedicated to him in the Louve in Paris, France. Well our hotel was so close to his house so I thought I better check it out while I was there. The last couple of days in Belgium I hit a few museums by myself that we hadn't had a chance to go to yet. ~ This was his self portrait
Here is his house/studio that he moved into in the year 1610. I believe he raised 5 kids in this house with his second wife being much younger than him. But it was neat to see this old home and see where he got his inspirations for his paintings. In 2002 one of his paintings sold for 76.2 million dollars. I'm sure a lot of people know about him, I'm just slow when it comes to history.

This was inside this tiny living room, the first room I saw in the house, as soon as I took the picture I got in trouble, no photos allowed . . . oops.

This was the beautiful backyard, wouldn't you want to live in this house?

Antwerp Cathedral Our Lady

While in Antwerp we pretty much ate dinner every night near this Cathedral, we heard the bells ring many times and a lot of people would perform just outside the cathdral in the evenings in hopes for your spare change. (I loved the entertainment)

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Finally I went inside to see the many paintings of Rubens, and just to see the Cathedral itself. I saw so many Cathedrals on this trip but they were interesting to me.

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The Cathedral of Our Lady from a distance.

This Cathedral was especially famous for it's paintings by Ruben that hung inside. It was the only Cathedral that I had to pay to go inside of which is kinda wierd to have a cash register in the church as you enter in.
This was just outside the Cathedral, there was one guy who would dress up like the other statues and sit there (wanting money of course) Can you see which one he is?

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He usually sat there like the other statues but this was our last night there and he kept laying like he had fallen - wierd. He looked better from the front.

Inside the Cathedral

Paintings were all along the sides

Some of the Cathedrals had these things engraven on the floor, I could not read the language very easily but I found names, dates and some of them even said R.I.P. on the bottom. So I'm guessing it's in memory of someone who has passed on. Anybody know for sure? I went to this alone, I didn't have my guides with me to explain it so I was just guessing.
The Saints - I think

And please don't tell me a dead person was inside this box and I didn't get to see inside.

The buildings are all kinda built together if that makes sense so you couldn't see the whole building but if you could this is what it would have looked like.