The Mosters put the Labor in Labor Day

So yes, it's been awhile since I've blogged. I know but I've been so enjoying the silence of the house since the kids have been back at school. Noah has discovered the fun and thrill of climbing trees.

This is a close up of him in our corkscrew willow in our backyard by our shed.

Here's the full tree. I couldn't find him in it but he's about 3/4 of the way up. Well over the top of the shed. He loves it and so do I. I loved climbing trees when I was his age. It was absolutely my favorite past time.

Just so you don't think it's all fun and games around here. Here's what we've really been up to. Remember when Emil built the canoe racks?

This was what the bank of our land looked like. The creek that runs behind our house is Doxey Creek (seen to the right) and you can get out into the sound (another body of water) which is a really big deal if you can actually access the water because then we have waterfront property!

Well when your bank looks like this it's hard to see the water much less get to it. But Emil worked us hard over Labor Day weekend and now we have waterfront property!

See our little dock?

(Yeah, I'm talking about the pallet in the right hand corner. Hey! It's a start!)

I will say this for Emil, he definitely has vision. And I'm so proud of my kids because they work really hard and don't complain. Actually Noah did have a suggestion that we pay him $5 for allowance that week. He didn't mention his brother or sister though.

So now when you come to visit we can go out canoeing from our back yard! What a treat!

Always There

Kirstin is growing up so fast. This past week she got her Patriarchal Blessing. For those of you who aren't members of our church I'll explain it. It's a blessing we receive in our church to help guide you in your life. You have to request it when you are spiritually ready. Kirstin decided with the advent of High School this was the right time for her so on Sunday she was able to get it. It was a very spiritual time. I had fasted and prayed for her and the spirit was so very strong.

I felt Kai there so strongly that it was as if he was dancing around the room. I can't begin to express how comforting this was. I know that Kai is with us in our lives, on and off, as we need him to be. I've felt that since he passed but this was different. I guess to me it was a testimony that just because his body isn't here on the earth his spirit won't be absent from the important events of our lives. When our children are married, he'll be there, whenever we celebrate something truly significant, he will in spirit along side with us. What a beautiful blessing this faith and knowledge brings to our lives. It's like one of my favorite hymns.

I Stand all Amazed

I Stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me.

Confused at the grace which so fully he proffers me.

I tremble to know that for me he was crucified,

Sufficient to own, to redeem, and to justify.

Oh it is wonderful, that he should care for me, enough to die for me.

Oh it is wonderful, wonderful to me.

Hurricane Earl

North Carolina Hurricane Preparedness 101

1. Mow the lawn and set out the flowering plants to get some extra rain. (You have no idea how hard it is to mow the lawn while there is massive amounts of water from the said hurricane. Additionally, if you wait for the water to subside then it's just feeding the grass more and it's 10 times worse later.)

2. Do all the laundry. (even if you don't fold it, it's essential to wash and dry it. It's no fun to have no clean clothes and on electricity to get them clean.)

3. Bake Bread and Goodies. (You already have your 72 hour kit ready so might as well make things that don't have to be in the fridge and you have an excuse for eating without power.)

4. Sit back and enjoy. ( The husband is home and the kids are out of school, you don't have any plans because they were all canceled because of the hurricane. Might as well enjoy some family time!)

Like so many Hurricanes we get Earl was a bit of a wash out. I'm not complaining. The kids got off school Thursday and Friday since the main highway that drives straight through our county is also the hurricane evacuation route for the Outer Banks.

On Thursday they announced mandatory evacuation for the Outer Banks so there was a lot of traffic. School buses on the Hwy. would have severely hampered the evacuation. Friday the hurricane actually passed but was little more than constant drizzle and winds. Not especially strong ones. So we are doing fine and safe. The back yard where we added dirt this summer faired well and didn't form a lake like it typically does. Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.

School Days!

Today was the first day of school. How cute are they?! Emil Michael is a Senior, Kirstin a Freshman and Noah's in 5th grade. Emil M. and Kirstin will start seminary next week so they get to sleep in a bit until then. Seminary starts at 6:30 in the morning! However they both wanted to get to school early today so they left at 7:20 this morning. I'm sure they just wanted to visit will all their friends. At least they didn't have to worry about a parking space!

Noah was upset when I took out the book he had in his backpack. It was about 4 inches thick and weighted around 5 pounds. I thought it was a bit heavy for a school day. So he went off sulking a bit.

After the kids left I had some friends over for a Back to School Brunch and we visited until around 1pm. None of us planned to be that long it's just been ages since we've gotten to visit uninterrupted. It was so nice!

Check out Blaze, she sits like this all the time. It cracks me up.

I had locked Blaze back in my room so she wouldn't bother our brunch and when I went to let her our she was sleeping on my bed!!!! She jumped right down and acted very contrite but who are we kidding? You know she was like,

"Fine you lock me in your room and guess where I'm sleeping!!"

I just had to include this picture of our neighbor and friend Jeff. This is the typical morning attire for the bus drop. He's even in school colors, Red and Black!

You're styling Jeff.

Emma's Reception

Saturday Kirstin and I went to Emma's reception. Emma is my brother Frank's, oldest daughter. So she's my niece. She married Andrew Weber at the Washington D.C. temple earlier in the day and we attended the reception at 6:30 that evening. This was outside the country club they were having the reception at.

I was snapping some pictures when I must have caught Andrew's eye. We haven't met yet and I think this look says it all. "Who is that woman taking our picture? I'm a little concerned."

Our table. It was a beautiful reception. Emma did an amazing job planning it all.

I love her colors and the flowers were beautiful.

I think that her aunt did the cake. (Not this aunt!)

Frank was there, of course, and it was nice to talk with him for a little bit although it was entirely too short a time to catch up. I also got to catch up with Aubrey and Mariah, Emma's sisters that were at the family reunion this summer. It's been fun getting to know them as young adults. I have to confess. I really need to learn how to take better pictures in the dark settings. I took a ton of pictures but not very many turned out. I guess I'll have to pull out my manual that came with it.

I was sitting next to Andrews' parents and was impressed with them. They were very kind and gracious. I think that they are a good family for her to have married into. They are a beautiful couple and I think that they'll be very happy together. Congrats Emma and Andrew!

The Big Guns

On Thursday Noah and I went on a Family Day Cruise aboard the USS Stout. One of the members of our Branch is in the Navy and was the sponsor for our cub scout pack. Several parents were unable to come and so I brought Noah, Will and Tanner Overby and Nolan Clark.

Will Overby, Jay Bair, Noah, Nolan Clark, Tanner Overby

Our day started early. We had to be there by 6am and we live an hour away so we got up at 4:20am. The boys all spent the night at our house.

Of course the highlight of the day was the guns they had on the ship. It was a destroyer. Each of the boys got to sight and try to cock this gun but had to hang on it to cock it. The serviceman was pretty entertained by their antics.

It was a long day. We didn't get home until 7:30 that night and I was throughly exhausted.

I'm glad I was able to go with Noah. He's such a fun, inquisitive child and he's growing up fast so I need all the time with him I can wrangle.

I'm so very grateful for our service members in the military. They often do a thankless job that takes them away from their families and the country that they love but they do it willingly and with dignity and courage. What a blessing to have people like them that serve to protect our freedoms.

The Temple and a Birthday Boy

Last Saturday we were able to go to the temple for youth baptisms.

Beautiful!

Don't you love Emil's head swing. This is how he gets his hair out of his eyes.

Noah went to Emil's parents and Emil M., Kirstin, Emil and I all headed up to D.C.

The traffic was horrible but the weather was great.

Kirstin

They had the most amazing bronze sculpture display of Christ life. Each sculpture displayed a different story in the gospel. There were about 12 of them. My favorite was this one of Christ raising Lazarus. I loved that you could see both to the outside of the tomb at Christ and one of the sisters and if you looked from the other side you were looking in on Lazarus and his other sister. The picture doesn't do it justice. It was so cool!

In other news, this past Monday was Emil's 39th birthday.

Happy Birthday my Love!

I teased him a bit by telling him he finally caught up to me in age. (I'm less than 2 months older but he loves to remind me that I'm the oldest in our little family) We had a quiet dinner and opened some presents, then headed down to the clubhouse in our neighborhood.

After Kai passed the neighbors wanted to do something in his memory. We decided on doing a bouncy airplane to add to the playground equipment at the clubhouse. It came in and the neighborhood showed up to install it on Monday evening.

Floyd, Noah, Russell

Just how many kids can you fit on that thing? The more the merrier I guess.

Kendal Cahill, Kirstin, Noah

Is there a age limit? Noah's pretending to be the human beatbox.

Brady Cahill, Emil Michael, Kirstin

It was a happy time and it was tender to me to know just how much our neighbors love us. None of them are members of the church yet they each have shown us the love of Christ through their actions over the past year and four months since we lost Kai.

How very blessed we are!

They also got a cake for Emil's birthday and we all sang happy birthday to him. I especially like the Barbie Candle!