Top far left: Sarah
After the house was all decorated, Rachel, Katie, and Sarah brought us all down to the living room and had a formal party. Rachel was the conductor, so she welcomed us and informed us of the agenda they had planned. Katie was the activity conductor, and she had several games for us to play (Red rover, Duck duck goose, freeze tag, and dancing). Then Sarah was the treat conductor, and she led us upstairs for orange julius and cake.
Rachel had drawn out what the cake should look like, and I did my best. They were all very happy and told me I was a "fantastic mom". I am not a perfect mom, or perfect person. I know my weaknesses and imperfections better than anybody, but after we had the day's activities, and I was exhausted, David and I looked at our happy, creative, and fun children, and thought, maybe that day, we had done something right.
Rachel received an art and music camp scholarship from SUU because she showed "outstanding potential in art". She has been very excited to attend. It was held each weekday, for three hours, for the past two weeks. Our kind neighbor was taking her grandchild and offered to drive Rachel to and from Cedar City each day.
The above picture is of the Zollinger Reunion at Bear Lake. She's got Grandpa driving the boat and aunts, uncles and cousins, riding the tube, swimming and playing at the beach. I thought it was excellent.
This picture is at Grandpa and Grandma Zollinger's house. She has Grandpa in the house waving, then our family playing on the swing set, and Grandma is outside playing with us. There is also a parachute in the sky because Grandpa and Grandma's house is by a popular glider spot.
This is Rachel and a life-size painting of Me! She did a great job on it, and I have decided to carry it around and shove it into pictures whenever I'm supposed to be in one.
Rachel is on the far right, second one in. She is singing with the other art and music kids. 
This is the back of the house. David loves lilacs. He planted them right next to the house so we would be able to smell them when they bloom. 
These are the five wonderful children that have made David the father he is. David is always concerned how they are doing. He loves to play and talk with them. I love hearing "Daddy!" every single time he comes home from work. They all give him a hug, and it is one of the best parts of our day. Rachel, Katie, Sarah, Nathan, and Rebekah. They love their dad!
This is the front lawn. We have planted two flowering trees and some bushes. The grass is green and growing in full. David put in a sprinkling system last year, and it is marvelous. He just pushes a few buttons, and the lawn, flowers, trees, bushes, garden, berries, and orchard are watered while we sleep. David has made it very easy for us to have a beautiful and healthy yard.
David is kind of a Jack-of-all-trades. I didn't know I had married a brick layer. But he put this brick wall around the front and back bushes around the house. It looks so nice, and he made it with some brick that was laying around the house when we got here.
This is the side front lawn. David planted four maple trees around the fence line, along with some bushes. He tore out a lot of old trash trees that were ruining the lawn and our home when we got to this house. Now, we are trying to bring back the shade, we are excited to be planting instead of destroying trees.
David and Nathan. I love watching Nathan follow David around the yard. He'll hammer and try the screw drivers. David built a play house for the kids by the play area. Nathan and Sarah followed him throughout the whole project, and it is turning out great.
The play house. We are having a dilemma on what color to paint it, but this is what is looks like so far. David has done a great job. The girls keep thanking him for making a house for them. They have already put table, chairs, and kitchen stuff out there. We are excited to make it a fun place to play. Oh- those rocks by the play area, surround 6 blueberry bushes David wanted to plant. Behind the shed is a boysenberry bush. David and I have talked about having an "edible landscape". It has been fun to see what we can get growing here.
A grape arbor. We have three green grape vines on the left side, and three red grape vines growing on the right. The grapes will wrap around the poles and then wind themselves all over the top. I should mention that the wood used for the arbor and the play house are from all over Idaho and Utah. He has wanted to use this wood for years...like 10 years. I love that he just can't let things go to waste.
The raspberry patch in the back yard. When we lived in Logan, we lived in my Aunt Marianna's basement, and she had a great raspberry patch in the back yard. Since then, we decided that raspberries are a must-have. There are currant bushes in front of the raspberries. David hasn't let much our property be unfruitful.
This is a large shot of the backyard. You can see the orchard on your right. We have 4 apple trees, 3 peach trees, 1 plum, and 1 cherry. Then the orchard has blackberry plants lining the fence. On the outside of the fence, David made boxes for strawberry plants. I've been worried that we would have fruit coming out of our ears, but David says, that is the idea.
I was surprised that Rachel was able to hit the ball coming out of the pitch machine. She did incredible! We practiced at home, but she did really well when it came to hitting the ball.
This was her position throughout the entire season. Her cap hiding her face, and just posed to catch something. She was cute, and we tried to encourage her to run after the balls if they were hit her way.
Katie was quite the fielder. She has an arm to kill, and could not only throw, but aim those balls. They put her all over the infield and outfield.
I loved watching Katie play ball. She enjoyed being out there and had a lot of fun.