Strawberry Picking 7/2014

I was worried we missed strawberry season as it's usually in June, but we had a rainy spring so we got lucky at Carver Farms!

We need these beauties to make freezer jam!

The car smelled so heavenly!

Later....strawberry roulade. 

Summer begins! 6/2014

June still has down-pouring rain at times.  My kids love it.  They got a bit of my Gig Harbor genes!

Excuse this pants-less child.  

They just ran out the door!  

We also have sunny days in June, this is our cul-de-sac. If I had a panoramic camera you'd see more kids.  It's always a  party!

Summer calls for days at Liberty Lake.  We bought a blow-up 2 man boat and it has been a great purchase!

Love kids in goggles!

Jesse and I celebrated our 16th anniversary with a night at the Davenport.  This is us the day before we got married when I had my endowments taken out at the Seattle Temple.

This curly top wakes me up with a "Good morning Mama!" each day. 

We have a delicious tradition of going to Baskin Robbins after the last day of school each year.

We are serious about ice cream in the Fox household!

I couldn't sneak a good picture, but one of my favorite things on Sunday is looking at our six children on the pew at church during Sacrament meeting.  I love our kids so much and they bring me joy.  I know I only have three years left with all of them at home.  I'm already getting sad about it.  I know Alexis is mature enough to leave, but we're sure going to miss her when she goes to college.  They are growing older so quickly!

Morning sibling cuddles are so sweet. 

Youth Conference 6/2014

Jesse and I were one of ten couples in our Stake chosen to be "Mission Presidents" for a two-day Youth Conference for our church kids 14-18 years old.  We got "called" to serve the Chile Santiago, Oeste Mission, the same one Jesse served in for two years when he was 19!  The kids also got mission calls to our mission, and we assigned companionships.

Jesse's parents graciously let us take over their home for an evening where we had a cultural night and games.  It was very nice because I had made dinner for 20.  :)

Chilean completos.  A glorified hot-dog served on a fresh bun.   

This is a good bunch of kids!

The lentejas (lentils) took the longest to make.  I was chopping vegetables forever.  :)

Haley Carpenter, Hailee Roberson, Toria Raab, Chad Stevens, Ethan Stewart, Brandon Rowell, Sami Kopelson, Emily Anderson, Natasha Selby, Tyler Rigby, Luke Merritt, Emma Stevens. (Not pictured: Jenna Vasquez, Silvan Squires, and Donavan Steele.)

We taught workshops and classes.  This is where the kids are having companionship scripture study. 

The door of our "mission home" at the church.  I was a bit stressed trying to pull off two days of leaving my kids and all the prep for this while being Primary Pres. and Jesse being YM Pres. We are BUSY, but it ended up being a blessing and we pulled it off.  It was wonderful to see the excitement that these kids had to be missionaries for the weekend.  They even got to go on exchanges with real missionaries and eat dinner in a members home.  Kudos to our stake for all this planning to provide these youth a great conference!