Happy New Year, friends and family!

2023 sees us looking back over our shoulders at the end of a glorious era: having all of our children under one roof! 

Xander graduated high school 

and worked on a commercial fishing boat, a riverboat, and a cruise ship before he flew off to serve the people of New Zealand as a missionary. 

Before he left, we maximized our Alaska family adventuring this summer lashed together on Root Glacier 

and smashed together through Atigun pass. Evelyn started kindergarten and Monette started substitute teaching. A momentous year!

May 31, 2017 Day Trip up North

We had the best family temple trip yesterday. Aaron was blessed with peace and inspiration to quickly avert a last-minute lost wallet crisis (passport card and temple recommend not optional)--it occurred to him that he had left his wallet in his backpack in his office at work, so he quickly darted over, grabbed it, and we still managed to get out of the house on time. If we leave by 8:00, he can make it to the 10:30 session and I can barely get in for the 1:00 when he comes out. Considering getting 8 people out the door geared up to be gone for the entire day, we did pretty well--the worst things we forgot were the peanut butter and a knife. The kids sure didn't mind when we stopped at Extra Foods in Cardston and got some Canadian Nutella-like spread to enjoy on our bread for lunch.

Of course we had to keep up tradition and get some Canadian-special Ketchup Potato Chips and other unique flavors. I finally remembered to bring a little coin purse of Canadian change with us that I have had since our initial drive up through Canada to Alaska 6 years ago. I gave each of the kids a $2 coin and let them choose some candy from the bulk bins. Who can get the closest to $2 without going over? Elodie won with $1.85 because she was the only one who didn't go over! In an effort to show consideration for the cashier and customers behind us, I just bailed out my big-spenders with more small change from the coin purse. I think Xander felt like he won, or at least beat the system, when he walked away with $3+ worth of candy due to the inaccuracy of produce scales and possibly some faulty mental math.

The weather was perfect for picnicking and playing at a park just blocks from the temple. As Xander relaxed on Kaleb's tiny blanket, he told me he likes these family Saturday trips much more than track trips. What beats family?

I was relieved to see Aaron come out of the temple at 12:51. I passed off the kids and felt so grateful as I walked in to the Lord's House for the privilege to worship there. On our drive up, we had been listening to The Chronicles of Narnia: The Silver Chair. I just loved how the adventure started with Jill receiving instructions from the great lion on a high mountain. As he sent her down to Narnia to fulfill her mission, he warned her that while she could see and think clearly up there, she would find that there was much to distract her and cloud her thinking down below. I love how beautifully CS Lewis teaches truth through his allegories. 

While I was basking in the glow of the temple, Aaron and the kids were basking in the sun at another nearby park. They played catch, hit the baseball around, climbed the spiderweb and rode the zipper, and Kaleb even took a nap! 

The weather was perfect for our stop at Glacier National Park on the drive back. We were pretty jazzed about doing a little exploring.

We took a gorgeous, family friendly hike to a waterfall.

 Aaron noticed some, ahem, bear scat on the trail and pointed it out to help the kids realize the importance of being bear aware. Oliver latched on to that interesting bit of information.

Xander and Elodie felt so invigorated by the spray of the waterfall and loved the rugged beauty so much that they could hardly "bear" to stay on the path. They REALLY wanted to scale some boulders on the other side of the raging creek. He assured us that he's like a mountain goat and wouldn't fall. The angle of the boulders and the loose shale covering them led us wise parents to poop that party and suggest this interesting fallen tree for climbing expeditions. You may be able to see the irony in this picture--just as I snapped it Xander fell right off the log, landing gracefully and unharmed, which would not have been the case on the rockface he was eyeing! 

As Aaron and I diligently attended to our task of keeping all six children alive, I could hear my mom's voice out of my childhood calling, "Milan, oh! Not so close to the edge!" Once again, I more fully appreciated her successful efforts of mothering all eight of us!

We saw a bear. After we had returned to the safety of our vehicle, gratefully. Oliver was so excited to see it and told us matter-of factly, "That bear poop on a trail." Yep, he's the one.

We heated up some sloppy joes for dinner and decided that their sloppiness plus our kids equaled a bad idea at a picnic spot bearing a sign on each table declaring the seriousness of leaving no food traces to keep bears away from people. We tried. And we learned a valuable lesson for next time's meal prep.

We were having such a lovely time that we couldn't "bear" to be practical and leave quite yet, so we strolled down to Saint Mary's lake to climb on more logs and skip rocks, because everyone knows that lakes are way better than streams for rock skipping.

I can't think of a more joyful, rejuvenating way to spend a day. I love where I live!

December 2017, Idaho Winter Wonderland Cousin Christmas

Ideal. In a word, that's how I'd describe our Christmas celebration this year.

Merry Christmas 2017!

With the Christmas season clipping merrily along and the daily demands of a young family, I realized that the only way to get some semblance of a Christmas card out was to work together! So here is our semblance of a Christmas letter.

To start out with, Dad is awesome. We went backpacking together on my 12th birthday. He carried my pack for some of the way--I love him for that! He took me hunting this year and we were successful at harvesting white-tail deer. He makes the best hamburgers. Since Dad switched jobs, he is not weighed down by being on call--he's happy, fun, and relaxed. He is happy to be raising his family in good old Montana. (Written by his eldest son, Xander)

Our wonderful mother is the best!! She is so happy to be in this house that we got this year. She has a big kitchen that she loves to cook and bake in. Her eggrolls, pot stickers, and ravioli are my favorite meals.😋 I love baking with her. Mom turned 38 this year and is a great leader. (addition to Dad)  She is a great example to not only our family, but also the whole community. She is not afraid to start a conversation, or talk to someone she doesn't know! Thanks for what you do for our family! I'm so glad you're my mom! (Written by her favorite oldest daughter, Elodie)

Xander has participated in tennis, swimming, and basketball with tennis being his favorite (like father like son :)) this year. He also earned some extra money moving lawns this past summer and has been very service minded. Xander and I went backpacking to Renshaw Lake up at Benchmark in the Lewis and Clark wilderness just south west of Augusta, MT.  He did great and it was so fun to have him go up the mountain being 11 y/o and then came down the moutain 12 y/o and transitioned into being a young man. He was ordained a deacon and has been doing a fine job passing the sacrament and magnifying his calling. He has progressed to a first class scout and will go up to a Star scout at his next court of honor Jan 2018.  We also went hunting together and harvested deer together. Xander loves engineering and is active in a robotics club in 4-H, It is exciting to have him become such a capable outdoors man, athletic, academically capable, and well rounded young man. I am very excited to see what becomes of him in 2018! (by his very proud father)

Elodie shares a room with me. She usually sleeps in the top bunk, but once she fell asleep in my bed with me. Elodie is a great sister. I love her. Elodie LOVES to read. And she loves to take care of Kaleb. She is good at playing the piano and she's learning to play the flute. Elodie played tennis. I bet she likes it a lot. And she loves to make treats like cookies. She once tried selling cookies--she made a lot of progress. I love it when Elodie makes treats--they're really good! Elodie loved it when her cousin Corinne got to spend a week with us in Montana this summer. (dictated by her one and only sister, Hazel)

Hazel plays with me a lot. She is really good at making stuff. Hazel is really good at singing and sings in music class and at home. She splashed in the water at the swimming pool in the summer (she was on the bubble blowers swim team). She really likes to play house with her baby dolls. She does really good at school. She's a Dahle. (dictated by her little brother, Max)

Max is my best friend. He plays with me a lot. I'm glad he's my friend. Max is learning how to swim. It's fun seeing him swim. Max is funny a lot. Max is in school. He really likes kindergarten. He likes his teacher, Miss Rowley. Max is really good at making projects in school. Max is 5. Max loves to play Legos. He loves to dress up like a knight and play battle with Oliver. Max is such a playful, kind, lovable guy. (dictated by his big sister, Hazel)

Oliver is a 3-year-old with a big personality. I love the time I get to spend with him everyday. He definitely misses having older siblings around now that Max is in school all day, so he is constantly trying to recruit me to play with him--bedtime tigers, dinos, and trucks being some of his favorites. He is a goer and when he knows we're going somewhere, he can hardly wait to get out the door. He's got some definite leadership skills in there, though they may need a bit of refining. "No, mom! Don't do a job! Get your shoes on and go to the mini-park!" When I try to reason with him about how we'll go as soon as I ____, he tries a different approach. "I am not staying here!" and he walks outside. He's a determined little fellow. Many times I have heard his cute little voice say, "No, I'm not hungry for dinner, I'm hungry for cookies!" I usually win that battle. But bedtime, whew, bedtime. I'd say he is winning that battle night after night. Currently, he will only go to sleep if I (or occasionally Dad) stay in his room until he falls asleep, which takes him around an hour. Poor Max can usually fall asleep through Oliver's antics, but sometimes, when Max is looking exhausted by dinnertime, Aaron jokes that Max is The Goob from Meet the Robinson's. Oh, I am capturing a bit of Oliver's feistiness but not his absolutely endearing cuteness. "You're the best, nice mom! I love you really much!" and "We're having the best day together, right mom?" are just some of the exuberant, loving phrases I hear from him. He simply adores helping me cook and bake and knows the names and locations of many cooking utensils. He's an adorably helpful little assistant, sometimes even anticipating my needs for a "spatula" or "cookie sheet." And he gives the best, sweetest, most sincere, timely, unprompted apologies. Last week, when he was doing a slumped-shoulder pout that he learned from Max, I knelt down and started talking to him heart to heart. He immediately said, "Mom, I'm sorry I did bad shoulders." Melts my heart all the time. Watch out, Primary, here he comes!! (I am currently the Primary President, so I'll get to see first-hand how that goes! Well, I'm getting close to a thousand words here (which is why I needed my less verbose family to help me lest I never get this done!) so I'd better just include a picture and call it good.

Kaleb is a very sweet soul. We are all very grateful for the newest addition to our family. He has blessed us with his sweet, lovable self! He has a fever, and we all are very sad, we hate to see him cry. His first word was ball(that's his favorite toy). He can also say pumpkin, (he pronounces it pumpen) Mommy(muh-ma) Daddy(dah-da),and uh-uh. He loves to eat, sitting at his tray way past breakfast begging for more cereal!😆We love our little man!!💕(Written by Elodie)

Kaleb's Been Around for a Year?!?!

Kaleb is ONE! He has one little tooth, which broke through about one week ago, and he can stand up on his own for about one second. We think he is one delightfully precious little guy.

 Elodie enjoyed showing her love by baking him an exceptionally delicious chocolate zucchini cake with chocolate whipped cream. (Thank you melskitchencafe.com and our dear friend who delivered this cake to us and introduced us to its wonders last year just after Kaleb's arrival.)

The first thing he noticed was that it was really fun to stick his finger in that fluffy stuff. He unselfishly offered the finger-full of whipped cream to everyone in his vicinity before even tasting it himself.

Being a baby, it didn't take long before he stuck it in his mouth. When he realized how amazing it tasted, he really dug in.

And then he just kept going and going. He had already eaten a huge heap of birthday curry, but that didn't prevent him from stuffing a remarkable amount of whipped cream and cake into his cute little face. He kept the crowd delighted with his classic chocolate beard and 'stache.

And even when we decided that the wise thing to do was to remove the huge cake from his tray because we couldn't see how a guy his size could fit another bite, his sweet pleading look as we pulled the cake away did convince us to leave a small piece on his tray. Kaleb is good at what he does--he found ways to remain the center of attention even while everyone was enjoying their own delicious slice of chocolaty goodness. (Elodie made an additional 9x13 cake that was undefiled--we did have company over, after all.) He started clapping out of excitement and LOVED it when everybody joined in clapping for him.

Then came the individual shout outs to his fans--the single-handed point.

 And the double.

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The drawn-out, squinty blinks. Removing his bib and throwing it in a heap. Oh this kid was a ham! Sheer delight. 10 out of 10, Kaleb. Well done.

We couldn't have asked for a more enjoyable first birthday party! We sure love this wonderful little addition to our family and can hardly imagine our family without him!

Dabbling in Dog

We continue to live this summer to the fullest. Piper was the highlight of this week for the kids. Some friends asked us if we'd watch their dog this week, and since Aaron completed Oliver's fence a few weeks ago, we were able to welcome a dog into it. Just minutes after this sweet, elderly dog arrived, Elodie insisted that we take her to the park with us where all the kids enjoyed her immensely.

 Oliver has loved having a buddy to go visit when he heads out back. "+I want a go outside and see, ummmm, that dog." (He can't seem to remember her name.) What a patient dog! Any dog that can handle Oliver's hugging, ear exploring, snuggling, and general antics is top in my books. It was so sweet to watch Oliver cuddle her and say, "I love you, dog."

While the older kids, including Hazel, were at a swim meet, Max was excited to be the one to walk Piper. He was confident and started off down the road. He got in for a little more than he bargained for and soon Piper was running full speed and Max's legs were flailing as he tried to keep up. He couldn't.  Piper yanked the leash away and kept running down the road. Max began screaming. I was still in front of the house waiting for Oliver on his big wheel, which he is not too speedy on since his feet don't quite reach the pedals yet. I quickly decided to ditch Oliver and Kaleb in the stroller and ran off after Piper, calling her name once I'd narrowed the distance. I was mentally planning on how a teenage neighbor I saw riding towards me on his bike could come in very handy should I be unable to catch this runaway dog. Gratefully, that proved unnecessary since this sweet lab is so obedient. As soon as she heard me call her name, she turned around and trotted right back to me. I was so proud of Max who decided to try again. We looped the leash safely around his wrist and he held on tight, calling to Piper to low down when needed. He did great!

Busy and Blessed

Science Fair, Piano Recital, Baseball (that was gratefully mostly rained out), Band concert, Scout Campout, friend's birthday party, play date, and all of the normal daily needs of six kids made for a very busy week around here!