Child Family

Life's Update

2012-01-19T20:45:00.000-08:00

We are so happy to be back in Kennewick even if we are living like sardines in an apartment! It's not too bad but does get quite loud sometimes. I'm sure the neighbors are already asking the manager how long we are going to be here. The kids are getting along better than I expected. And it's easy to keep an eye on the little boys so that is always a plus!

We have started getting bids for the new house. It is actually going quicker this time because Mark can email the construction drawings and get replies back the same way. It is so much faster than driving around delivering prints then having to back a few days later to take them to another business. It looks like we will wait a few extra months to start building though because there are issues with the water pressure on our lot. The neighborhood where we are going to build was annexed into the city of Richland, although our kids will still go to Kennewick school district and the city limits are right across the street. The problem is that their psi for water is different and not up to code for Richland. So, we either have to pay for fire sprinklers to be installed inside the house ($$$$) or wait until the system is updated. We are choosing the latter. We are told that it is supposed to be complete by May but the City Planner thinks July is a more realistic date. If we go in to get a building permit before the system is updated we have to install sprinklers even if our occupancy date is after it is complete. Kind of silly. We asked if we could get our permit ammended if we are still building when the system is updated and they said that no one had ever asked that before. So, hopefully they will work with us. It's so silly to waste that money that we will never be able to recover in resale. If the city is nice we hope to start by March 1, but it looks like it may be later in the spring. Keeping our fingers crossed it is sooner rather than later!

Here is the kids new favorite play place because playing hide and seek in 1300 square feet of space isn't always easy. They even make Adam's bed in there so he can snuggle with his stuffed animals. Whatever makes them happy!!

Grateful for the small things

2012-01-17T13:35:00.000-08:00

Last November I had the opportunity to go to Time Out For Women in Salt Lake City. We were given a small, leather bound notebook and I am using mine as a "Gratitude Journal." I have done this in the past, but hope to make writing in it a permanent habit instead of just having a few entries. I want my children and their children to know how grateful I am for all of my many blessings - no matter how large or small they are.

I have committed to recognizing the small things in life that make me happy. Some of them may seem silly, but they make me happy non-the-less. Here is one of them with an explanation following:

I have always liked cereal, but have never enjoyed eating it. When I was young my mom made us drink every drop of milk in our bowl when the cereal was gone. That made me want to barf so I rarely chose to eat it for breakfast. I also HATE, HATE, HATE soggy cereal. So when I do eat cereal I have to add a handful of dry cereal to the top of my bowl with a small amount of milk at the bottom, being very careful to not mix the two until I am ready to take a bite. The kids know to not bother me if I have milk in my bowl because if I had to set it down the cereal on the bottom of the pile would become soggy and therefore uneatable. For Christmas Mark's brother, Brad, gave me this fabulous bowl. Eating cereal has never been so enjoyable!!! I don't even have to hold the bowl up so if I am interrupted by an "emergency" my breakfast isn't ruined. This is one of those small things in life that make me happy and therefore I am grateful for it.

2 1/2 years already?

2012-01-09T10:18:00.000-08:00

WOW!! I can't believe that it has been 2 1/2 years since I last blogged. So much has happened that there is no way I could catch up on what was missed. So I will just add photos from 2011 as a year-in-review. They are not in order because I am too lazy to rearrange them. I will try to do better for this coming year! Enjoy:

Kendall turned 8 in May and was lucky enough to have cousins visiting WA for her baptism. In June Brett participated in his first Pioneer Trek.

Adam enjoying the sprinklers at Lagoon.

Bingham Copper Mine

visit from the Birch's

Utah's Hogle Zoo

Halloween

our house we sold in Kennewick :-(

where we lived in Salt Lake City

funny faces before the Orioles game

PG County (white) girls!

Washington, D.C. Temple

U.S. Postal Museum

fun with the Kelley's

National Zoo

Mark & Adam walking on the Mall after the trip up the Washington Monument

in front of the White House

Heath girls

Virginia Beach

American History Museum - Spring Break trip back east

Easter

Evan played on his first T-ball team in the spring

Christmas jammies

Did you eat him???

2009-08-25T10:22:00.000-07:00

Here is a short conversation that I had with Evan this morning:

(Holding a bottle of baby lotion) Evan asks, "What is this for?"
Me: "It's lotion for a baby."
Evan: "Where is our new baby?"
Me: "He's still growing inside of me."
(putting his hand on my stomach) Evan: "In your belly? Did you eat him?"

We have a roof!!

2009-08-13T20:44:00.000-07:00

This first picture was taken yesterday (8-12-09). The roofers came out and rolled out the paper in one day. Mark got out there last night and painted all the soffet and fascia first so we wouldn't have to tape anything off. Brett, Erin & Kehli spent all afternoon cleaning up in the front and did a great job - probably the cheapest cleaning crew on a job site ever! As long as they could play in the mud when they were done they were happy.

Then came out today (8-13-09) and roofed the whole thing, finishing around 7:30 pm. It looks better than we expected so we are very happy. Plumbers will finish tomorrow and HVAC will probably finish tomorrow also. The electricians are scheduled to start Monday. A couple of windows and one door were installed today, the rest should go in tomorrow except for three that are still on order.Here is Brett ice blocking for mutual last night. It looked like fun, but the other leaders weren't letting me have a try in case I fell off and rolled down the hill. I guess it would have hurt a little. Everyone had a blast, especially the young men.

August Update

2009-08-06T14:59:00.000-07:00

This picture of Evan was taken at the Child Family Reunion at the Moses Lake Water Park on August 1. He thought he could do ANYTHING with that life jacket on. I'm glad he wasn't afraid of all the water, but the sprinkler park was a nice change of pace for a bit. He kept running off wanting to go on the surfing wave and the big slides (that you have to be 4 ft. to go down) - even got to the top of the stairs once or twice. It's interesting how many people would just stand there and watch him try to do things that he obviously shouldn't be doing. The best part of the day was when Evan discovered the sprinkler that they had attached to a hose to keep the concrete cool just outside the locker rooms. Evan is fascinated with sprinklers, maybe I have mentioned that before. Anyway, at first he would just turn the sprinkler to squirt people on their way by. Then, I guess that wasn't fun any more, so he picked up the sprinkler so he could get a closer shot at people and even chase them a little. The lifeguard that was closest thought it was pretty funny and so did most of the people, but there were a few stinkers (at the water park!!) who weren't amused at getting wet a little. I wish I had had my camera handy. Here is my most recent trip to Rite Aid. After rebates and coupons I got these 12 items for only $4.34. They would have cost me over $45.00 if purchased there at regular price. And all of them are items that I would have to buy anyway - including the Werther's chocolate!! I love rebate programs. I should have take a picture of our school supply shopping trip that we took on Monday - lined paper, rulers, pencil pouches for 1 cents each, 6-pack highlighters & 2-pack pink pearl erasers for 29 cents each, 12-pack pencils (the good kind!) for 5 cents each. And I didn't mention before my steals at JC Penney on Saturday - 15 items for $112 including 6 pair of jeans for the kids. Plus I started Christmas shopping - only one gift so far, but it's a start. It has been a good week for us at the stores!

Here are the most recent pictures from the house. These first two were taken on Monday, August 3. The first one is right after the trusses got delivered in the moring. It was 105 that day so I felt bad for the framers. The second picture is in the evening when they were done working for the day.

These last two pictures were taken this morning (8/6/09). The first is a front view, the second is from the back. They should have finished the roof sheathing around lunch time and then finished the garage exterior walls. The windows and exterior doors were delivered yesterday so those will start going in either today or tomorrow. Mark will paint the soffets on Saturday afternoon before roofing starts. Roofing, plumbing, HVAC and electircal will all start next week. It's so exciting to watch!!

Summer Fun

2009-07-27T10:14:00.001-07:00

House updates: First two pictures of the forms for the concrete basement walls. Next picture is Mark putting tar on the walls so the excavation can backfill with dirt. Fourth picture is of Erin and Evan breaking nails off after the forms were removed. We had to do that all the way around the basement one day when it was about 96 degrees. The last picture was taken yesterday (7-26). The downstairs is almost completely framed. They will finish that part today then start on the upstairs. We'll pick up windows & exterior doors next Monday then trusses in two weeks or so.

Before we left the church parking lot on Monday, July 13:
Playing Chubby Bunny on Ward Day - probably one of the grossest things I've ever done:All our girls together on Ward Day (minus one that we couldn't find at the time): The brave girls getting ready for the polar bear plunge (that's me on the far left):My turn on the rope swing: I got to go to Girls Camp two weeks ago. We went to Camp Zarahemla on White Pass about 125 miles away. The weather was perfect and the girls all had a great time (I think). We had 15 girls with us at the Ward camp and another 8 that were YCL's with the Stake. We canoed, made crafts, did a polar bear plunge, swung on the rope swing, relaxed & ate, ate, ate!!

Evan & Grummpa Pirate watching Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs:
Eating delicious ice cream at Leatherby's. Brett's eyes were bigger than his stomach!: The day after I got home from Girls Camp we left for Utah. My parents are out visiting my mom's family. We only went to Boise on the first day and stayed at a hotel to relax and swim. We got to Utah on Sunday and stayed until Thursday. My camera starting acting up at the end of our trip so I will have to wait for my parents to send me a copy of the whole group picture. We went swimming a couple of days at the local pool, ate ice cream at Leatherby's, visited Ken & Robyn & their family, went to the movies, and relaxed as much as possible.

Eating popsicles with cousin Jared:

On Monday, Evan decided to get into my Grandma's pills up in her cupboard and too 6-8 of her thyroid pills. Poison control said there would be no side effects for a couple of days. Wednesday morning at 4:00 am he woke up barfing and continued to do so until about 8:30 that morning. After his nap he was starving then fine the rest of the time. We were lucky the thyroid pills were in the front of the row and not heart or blood pressure medication. He would have had to get his stomach pumped if that would have been the case. Here is a happy picture of Evan blowing barf bubbles and keeping a bowl close.
After being able to hide it for 17 weeks we are finally announcing that I am pregnant with baby #6. We are due on December 31 and found out a couple of weeks ago that we are having another boy. We probably could have gotten away with another week or two of not telling anyone, but Erin announced it in Primary so I got a flood of emails Sunday afternoon asking for confirmation. I'm not as big as this picture shows - it must have been the angle. I can still see my feet when I look down. I'm feeling good now, just tired - but that is to be expected!

Summer has begun!

2009-06-18T09:00:00.001-07:00

Brett getting his medal for coming in second place in the league.
Brett watching the other team get the big trophy instead of listening to the coaches.

Baseball ended on a sad note for Brett. After having a mostly winning season and not losing one game in the tournament his team ended up losing the championship game and coming in second. It was SOOO hard to watch the last games. The other team had to beat us twice since we had never lost and they did beat us one game after another. The first game we gave to them with many errors and few hits. The second game was actually a good game and we ended up losing in the last inning by one run. I even cried a little bit with Brett - what do you expect, I'm a mom!! Brett is sad to be too old to play in this league next year and is still trying to decide if he's just going to play school ball or go out for the Babe Ruth league. He's got time to decide. It would be nice to do school ball because they don't travel as much as Babe Ruth, but we'll leave that up to Brett. I'll watch him wherever he plays!

Erin has had two weeks of voice lessons and is not lacking in the confidence department. She sang a Celtic Woman song in the school talent show on the last day of school and did a great job. Then yesterday her voice teacher, who also teaches piano, had a recital at an assisted living facility and she sang "Castle on a Cloud." She was more nervous singing in front of a few old people that she didn't know than in front of the whole school. When I figure out how to post videos on this blog I will post one of her performances.

Kehli starts summer school on Monday. Her Spanish teacher was hoping that summer school would be in Spanish since she's in the Dual Language program, but it is only offered in English. So it was up to Kehli if she wanted to go still. When she found out that she gets to ride the bus and eat breakfast & lunch there she decided to go. It will be good for her.

Bubba is excited to start swim lessons. Now that she is 6 she can move from the kiddie pool to the big pool, which is warm. Evan continues to keep us on our toes - not letting us sit for longer than 2-3 minutes at a time. He loves to run and is pretty fast. I'm sure the carpet will be worn down by the time we move out because he runs up and down the hallway constantly.

Yesterday we finally broke ground for the new house. Mark was like a little kid at Christmas - with a smile as big as his face. I took Brett, Erin & Bubba to see the excavators and they had fun trying to figure out where their new rooms will be. It will be a fun process to watch and hopefully everyone won't get tired of seeing pictures and hearing details. It's been such a long time in the making for us! It still seems unreal.

The Most Exciting Ending...

2009-06-01T07:37:00.000-07:00

Brett's team is now in the City Tournament. So far we've only played two games with the third tonight. We're still in the winner's bracket, but play the other leagues #1 team tonight. It should be a great game - hopefully our pitchers are on.

Saturday's game was SOOOOO exciting. It started at 9:00 and was the hottest day of the year so far - 98 degrees. We played the #3 team (Meuller's) in our own league who had beaten us twice in regular season play; we had only won one game against them. It was a close game the whole time and we got to the last inning. We're up 4-3 and are in the outfield. Meuller's loads the bases with their pick-up batter at the plate. The coaches have our outfielders (Brett was playing right field) go way out in anticipation of a big hit. The kid hits the ball to right field but way in front of Brett and towards the right field foul line. Everyone thinks there is no way Brett will catch the ball so the kids on base take off hoping to score at least two runs. Well, Brett runs and dives to catch the ball. Then he stood up and threw a perfect throw to first base for a double play - ending the game. I could hardly contain myself!!! They gave him the game ball and carried him off the field. He was proud because they've only given out a game ball one other time this season. Even the umpires and other teams coaches told Brett how impressed they were. Of course this was the first game that I didn't have my camera because Mark was on a motorcycle ride with his buddies and wanted it to take pictures. Hopefully some of the other moms were more on top of things and got some pictures. If so I'll post them another time.

We are getting closer and closer to starting to build our home. We signed on the lot last week so it is officially ours now. All of the bids are in and we turned in everything to the bank a couple of weeks ago. Ryan, our lender, said it should come back from the underwriter this week. Mark applied for our septic permit last week and was told it should also be signed off this week. Then the official building permits and we can start!! I still can't believe that it is actually happening. We've been planning for so long!

This is the last full week of school for the kids and I can't wait. I love having them home for the summer. It's not easy, but so much fun. We can't wait to go swimming and participate in the library's summer reading program!

Kehli's Softball and more...

2009-05-22T21:11:00.000-07:00

Hitting the ball out past third base, but only making it to first base - they only let them take one base at a time. She could have easily gotten to second.

On third base waiting for someone to hit her home. You can see by the members of the opposite team how exciting the games are when they are in the outfield. It's not uncommon to see a girl doing kartwheels or picking flowers or chasing a butterfly. Running home!!
Playing catcher for half of the game.

It is more fun to watch Kehli than I had expected. I thought I might get bored after watching the fast paced ball that Brett plays. It's actually quite entertaining, but I'm glad that it only goes for just over an hour. She got go play catcher and pitcher (it's coach-pitch, but they have a girl stand by the coach to catch the balls coming in and field the hits). She is having a great time!

Brett's team ended up finishing second in their league and they start the All-City Tournament on Wednesday evening. We play a team that we've beaten 3 times so are hopeful that the first game will be easy for us. We should be able to get through the first two rounds without any problems, but you never know.

Eating in the back of Mark's pick-up.

Serving hot dogs as fast as I could with Gabriella Furniss.

We had a "Car Hop" fundraiser for the young women at church to help earn money for girls' camp this summer. It was the first year we've done this particular fundraiser and we did much better than expected. The girls brought in over $1000. It was a crazy two hours, but well worth the effort. We served hot dogs, chips, cookies, & rootbeer floats. And we offered family pictures, classic cartoons & popcorn, games for the kids and a silent dessert auction (which brought in over $500 on its own!). If they decide to do it again next year I know they could make tons more money just from what we learned this time. Everyone seemed to have fun and were patient with our rollerskating waitresses.

The boys didn't want to dress up so we didn't invite them into our picture. The girls had poodles on their skirts, but unfortunately you couldn't see any of them. Oh well.

It's finally spring!!!

2009-05-11T14:51:00.000-07:00

Evan doesn't believe me that it's nice outside. He always says, "I'm freezing!" Here he is all bundled up on the couch trying to stay awake. We are enjoying the sunshine - hopefully it's here to stay this time. Mark finished the fence and we got the border logs in place - now we're just waiting for rock to be delivered. When we're done spreading rock we can plant grass. Can't wait for that!

Forgive me for posting more baseball pictures. The two pictures above were taken at Brett's best game of his career. He made two beautiful catches out in left field - one was a foul, but he went all the way to the fence and made a game changing catch. I was so excited I could hardly control myself. The game was tied at the end of the 6th inning (we usually only play 6) so we went into a Kansas City tie-breaker. The last out from the previous inning goes to second and you start out with one out. Brett is up first and the kid that started on second base stole to third. Brett hit a fabulous hit to center field and Nick scored. Brett hit a game winning RBI!! That never happens to Brett so I am happy for him!!! So now he's on second base (the first picture - you can see the scoreboard reads 3 balls, 2 strikes, 2 outs, and we're up by one) Brett steals third, then is hit home (the next picture) and scores making the score 4-2 at innings end. Unfortunately we have to forfeit the game because our pitcher threw too many innings for the week and no one brought it to our attention until we were winning. So it was all for nothing. But Brett still feels good about his personal performance. Today at practice he is going to get a "Be A Hero" Award that the coaches give out if a player has an exceptional game/play. He's getting it for making the catch out in the field because if he hadn't we would have lost the game in regular innings.

Here is me with my babies on Mother's Day. Evan said it was "TOO light" so he wouldn't look up. Can you believe that Brett will be 13 tomorrow and if I wasn't wearing heels he would be just about as tall as I am. I think he only has an inch to go. He thinks that's real funny. I told him he could really laugh if he ever catches up to Mark. I didn't realize how tall Bubba was until I looked at this picture. Maybe it's just the angle... I had a wonderful Mother's Day filled with lots of special drawings and gifts. Mark finally bought us a new matress and surprised me with it on Saturday night. I LOVE IT - it's so nice to not have to sleep in a hammock-like bed any more. We had our previous matress for 15 years so it was time for a new one!

Kehli's first softball game is tomorrow night. She can hardly wait. She had to get the pants, belt & socks to complete the outfit. I'm sure it will be entertaining.

Holy Cow, time flies when you're having fun...

2009-04-27T20:20:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe that it has been so long since I've updated our blog. It is baseball season so everything kind of takes a back seat to that. I am so happy that Mark takes care of the kids during the games so I can actually watch and concentrate. I LOVE to watch Brett play and it makes me sad when I get interrupted with, "MOMMY Kehli hit me" or "I'm hungry can we buy some gummy bears." His team is doing so much better this year with a record so far of 11-3. There's actually a possibility that we could win the All-City Tournament in June. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but the prospect of after season play is so exciting. Brett is doing well at the plate - I guess all the batting practice over the winter actually helped. His batting average so far is 0.316 which is considerably better than last year. When he pitches he does well also. One game he pitched the last two innings and only threw 19 pitches. Not bad!! He's been walked 10 times and hit by a pitch twice. As long as he gets on base he's happy! If you don't care about baseball stop here and skip to the next section as I ramble on about our last game...Saturday's game was disappointing - we were down by 2 in the last inning with one out. Our kid gets up and bunts the ball, but he was still in the batters box so it was called a foul. But then he hits it again with the bat and the catcher picks it up and throws him out at first - the outfield ump calls it out. Obviously we complain that it was a called foul by the home plate ump first - after deliberations and lots of exchanges with our happy coaches the batter is called out. Two outs, a player on first, and Brett is up to bat. He hits it out to center field just over the second baseman's head. They get it to second base and the runner is out. Game over and Brett feels it is all his fault for hitting it where he did. It was a disappointing loss and even worse when there were several bad calls by the umps. I am a good spectator though and only get upset for a while. I've only been told once to be quiet. I don't want to embarrass Brett too much!

Kehli decided to try softball this year and her first game is on Saturday. It will be fun to watch her play and so different from watching Brett. She is one of the only girls that can catch the ball most of the time so she's pretty confident. I'll post pictures of her next time.

Here are pictures of the lot that we are going to build on. It is about one acre and is on a hill. The first picture is from the bottom looking up and the second is from the top looking down. It's hard to tell on the second picture since the slope is considerable, but I like how it feels country a little bit. We are finishing up bids right now and hope to go to the bank with everything next month. It is such a process so far and we haven't even broken ground!! Mark puts so much time into gathering bids that I try to not complain about designing the kitchen and picking out plumbing & light fixtures. I have to do it all now though because with the kids home in the summer there will be little time for things like that. We are praying that interest rates stay low until we lock in our rate. We can't wait to get started!!

Right now we are also working on getting the yard done here at our rental. Mark finished the sprinkler system on Saturday and started on the fence - at least digging post holes. Hopefully the fence will be in by weeks end and we can get the dirt all leveled and the grass and garden planted before it gets too hot. There are so many rocks here. The kids and I have been gathering rocks for 3 weeks now - I almost believe that they are having babies overnight! I'm about to the point that I'm not going to make them pick up any more that are smaller than their hand. It will be fine, right!?

Erin loves to sing. Unfortunately she inherited my singing abilities so we are looking into voice lessons for her. Since she is not interested in sports or dance I figure this is one talent that we will try and help her develop. She is trying out for a solo at school this week and I think she'll be pretty disappointed if she doesn't get it. Luckily there are 30 kids trying out for it so I think she'll understand if things don't go as she has planned. She volunteered our family to sing the reverence song in Primary a few weeks ago and it was the most embarrassing few minutes of my life. It is a new song that Mark and I had both not ever heard before except for the kids singing it around the house - so it doesn't sound like it should. So the pianist plays it once through for us and I get through the first line before the giggles set in. I laughed all the way through the rest of the first verse and the second. There were tears rolling down my cheeks. I don't know what happened, but I couldn't stop. So, Erin basically sang a solo into the microphone as I laughed, Bubba mumbled a few words here and there and Mark sang as quietly as possible. I felt bad because I am sure it didn't help reverence the kids, but I'm happy to say that they will never ask our family to sing again!!

The kids have said a few cute things that I want to document before I forget:
The first was when I was tucking Evan in for his nap. I alway say, "Evan, I love you forever and ever." As I was tucking him in the other day he grabbed my cheeks and said, "Mommy, I love you never, never, never."

The second was on Saturday night after dinner. We are having an issue with ants coming in under our kitchen door. It could be because we are working the dirt outside and stirring them up, or the fact that there are holes under the door so they can walk in freely, or that Evan's chair is right next to the door and he drops a lot of crumbs on the floor - or a combination of all of the above. Anyway, I have to sweep the floor after every meal and I mop every night after dinner. So this was the conversation in the kitchen one night:
Bubba: You're cleaning the floor AGAIN!?!
Me: Yes, so the ants won't keep coming in.
Bubba: Well, the devil will keep sending them.
Erin: No Bubba, the devil doesn't send them, he TEMPTS them.
Bubba: You mean with our crumbs?
Too cute - I couldn't keep from laughing!!

Well, this is long enough. Hopefully it won't be two months before I post again. I'm a little better at Facebook because I don't feel like I have to write as much so check there for more pictures if you are interested. HAPPY SPRING!

2009-03-09T20:57:00.000-07:00

Well, we finally sold our home and moved into a rental for about a year. We hope to start building in July and are in the process now of finishing up our house plans. Then the fun begins!!Here is our new family room / living room - there is only one front room in our rental house. This is what it looked like after we moved in and they cleaned it up. It's been 9 days now and it is finally our own. We moved the couch in on Friday and are now just waiting for a TV. I didn't think I'd miss it this much. Most boxes are unpacked - I only have about 4-5 left to go. So far the kids have adjusted well. The girls are all in one room and Brett & Evan are in one together. I'm going to like having less space to clean. Mark is hoping that I get out of the habit of having piles everywhere because there just isn't room in this house to have piles. It's in my blood...

Evan has had so much fun watching the "workers" out the front window. He loved the "little tractor" and even asked if he could have a ride, but was turned down.

I love this picture of Evan & Mark watching the last of the three cement pours. It will be wonderful to have all the concrete done so the tracking of mud can be cut back. I will be happy to plant grass - hopefully sooner rather than later! Brett can't wait to mow again - NOT!

Brett helping Mark cut plywood to put in the rafters in the garage to store more of our junk...I mean treasures. I was happy to see him wearing safety goggles as I stood in the window praying that he didn't cut off any fingers. He did a great job!

Evan cleaning out the dryer after putting a handful of sand in it. He's such a good helper!

Evan being a good helper again putting the computer cabinet together with Mark.
Here are Mark and I at the Hawaiian themed Primary Appreciation Dinner. Yes, those are coconuts that I'm wearing - Mark made me wear the shirt under them because it was 30 degrees outside and he was afraid I would catch a cold - he's so thoughtful.

Here are some shots from Brett's last basketball game of the season. They ended up only losing one game and really worked well as a team.
Brett in the middle - not letting go of the ball.
Way to block out Brett!
Get that rebound!!!
Baseball season started last week with practice 4 days in a row, four practices this week then the first game on Saturday. They appear to have a strong team this year and we are hoping for a few more wins than last year. The league Brett plays in is switching to a 70' baseline with a few rule changes. Brett is nervous about that, especially since he is a pictcher and the kids can lead off 1st base now. He'll do fine though - he just needs to be confident!! Evan is ready for baseball season and wears Brett's extra baseball "mitten" around all the time. Why can't he stay small for just a little bit longer?

Kehli's Baptism & Bubba's Assembly

2009-02-04T20:50:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, January 31 Kehli was baptized. She has waited a few extra months because Mark and I were out of town in December and his parents were out of town at the beginning of January. She was patient and very excited that the day finally came. She looked like an angel all dressed in white. She had many friends there to support her on this special day. It's occasions like these that make me wish we lived a little closer to family, but our Ward friends have truly become our family at times like these .

Kendall sang in a music assembly at school last week. The Kindergarten classes all sang a few songs together. It was as entertaining as any school assembly could be. The whole thing only lasted about 10 minutes. Bubba is the one in the striped turtleneck and ponytails on the left side. She got to stand next to Ryker Buttars, which she thought was pretty cool.

Cooties...

2009-01-26T10:45:00.001-08:00

Last night Brett was trying to give Evan a love before they went to bed and Evan's response was, "No Brett. Give me cooties never." I guess he's heard us tell the girls that boys have cooties and to stay away from them.

Mark is out of town for a couple of days. He had to go to Twin Falls, Idaho for some farming thing. It would have been fun to go with him...maybe another year.

Kehli & Brett will have their first basketball games this Saturday. Kehli especially can't wait.

We had New Beginnings last week at church. We have a great bunch of girls and I totally enjoy working with them! We only had two missing that night and had a great program.

Another funny from Evan...

2009-01-18T15:53:00.000-08:00

I was putting on Evan's pajamas so he only had his arms in - no feet yet. He said, "Mommy, me Super Why." I said, "Oh really." His response, "Yes, cause my have the power to read."

For those unfamiliar with Super Why it is a show on PBS where the super hero wears a cape and flies. They go through a story book and solve word puzzles - "super readers to the rescue!"

It was so cute because it was out of no where and I have never heard him say that before.

Evan can be so sweet sometimes

2009-01-18T15:49:00.000-08:00

If my heart could literally melt, it would have last night. Evan was on my lap and he took my chin in his little hands and said, "Mommy, you're booful (beautiful)." I couldn't hug him tight enough!!

Kids are back in school...

2009-01-08T22:13:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas - nice and quiet here by ourselves. I'm glad that we weren't planning on traveling anywhere because the weather was so extreme here in December. We had lots of snow - lots of places in the state have already broken records. Now our snow is gone and we've had crazy wind this week.

One tradition we have for Christmas is to pick a menu for dinner all new - things we would typically not fix. This year everything was good and it didn't take us ALL day to prepare. We had grilled lamb chops with fresh herbs (these melted in your mouth - YUMMY!), whipped rosemary & garlic cheese potatoes, tangy garlic tortellini salad, glazed maple acorn squash, savory cheese bread and chocolate mousse napoleons with strawberries and cream.

Here are the kids playing in the snow. I don't know who had more fun - Mark or the kids he was pulling around. We went up to the church parking lot so we could have more room. It was a blast!! We went with the Holladay family and Ethan Ellsworth on a couple different days before the snow all melted. Kehli and I both tried out the cross-country skiis. I was happy that the parking lot was flat!

New Years Eve we went out with two other couples to eat at Famous Dave's BBQ and the came here to play games. We had fun with the Wii. Mark and I kicked butt probably because he is so coordinated with the remote as you can see by the light saber that he drew in about 10 seconds. I need lots more practice!
We got the house back on the market last week and had two showings this weekend. One couple came back tonight and they have made an offer, but it is contingent on them selling their home first. We'll see how that works out. We repainted the laundry room and put up a new border and also did some updating in the master bedroom. Both of those rooms look much better now. Hopefully it sells soon....

I am on a team at the gym that is involved in a 6 week contest. Every week there is a new challenge to complete as well as at least 3 regular workouts. This week was easy - only 300 jumpropes. It's a good thing it is easy because our team also signed up for group training sessions 3 times per week for 30 minutes each time. I didn't think I'd be sore because I have been exercising regularly, but I can hardly walk today. Tomorrow is going to be a nightmare, but after that I should be okay. Can't wait to see the results after 6 weeks!!

The kids are all doing great. Brett started pitching lessons last month getting ready for baseball season this spring. They changed the baseline length this year to match the next league & middle school ball. So, he has been taught a new way to pitch. He's doing great. Erin is doing well with her violin and seems to really enjoy it. She twisted her ankle at recess today and I'm hoping it isn't broken. We told her to sleep on it and we'd see how it was in the morning. It wasn't swollen so I'm not too worried. Kehli keeps growing taller and taller - she's about the same height as Erin now. She is so happy that it is basketball season and can't wait for the first game. Bubba is impressing me with her reading. At school she has reading in Spanish so I didn't expect her to be so "advanced" with her English reading. She's very good at sounding out the word one letter at a time. Evan is my little wild man. He loves to go to the gym and play in the kids room and then come home and fly the remote control "hopter" (helicopter). His day revolves around that hopter - play, charge battery, play, charge battery... Jaylee has decided to go back and live with her Grandma. We are sad and a little hurt, but continue to pray for her and hope she is happy. I guess having a cell phone is more fun than having chores!

It's been a while...

2008-12-24T22:12:00.000-08:00

So much has happened since the last time I updated this blog. I'll try to fit everything in without too many details or it will be a novel!!
My Grandpa Bennett passed away at the beginning of November so we made a trip down to Utah for a week. It was bitter sweet - sad saying good-bye to him and seeing my Grandma hurting, but happy being able to see so much of my family. Mark got to meet some of my cousins for the first time and all five girls were in the same house for at least 2 days. It was a nice trip.

We got back from Utah and I got going on a new exercise/weight program. I was actually able to buy a smaller pair of jeans from Old Navy after only a few weeks. YIPPEE!!! I've got a long ways to go still, but feeling great.

We spent Thanksgiving in Quincy at Mark's parents house. His brother, Brad, came up from California so it was good to see him again. It was great to relax and sit in the hot tub every night. It felt so good on my muscles! Brett loves to go up there because he can jump on his dirtbike and ride around all he wants. The other kids love "exploring" in the junk pile and riding around in the little 4x4 trucks. It's nice in the fall/winter because we don't have to worry about water being in the ditch behind the house and the kids can play in it all they want.

At the beginning of December Mark and I finally took a honeymoon trip and went on a Western Caribbean cruise. I posted lots more pictures on Facebook if you must see more. Our friends, Keith & Cindy Campbell, went with us and we had a BLAST. We went out of Ft. Lauderdale and had stops in Grand Cayman & Ocho Rios. In Grand Cayman we rented wave runners and went out about 8 miles into the ocean to a place called Stingray City to feed and swim with the stingrays. What an awesome experience!! Then we did some snorkeling in the clear water and got sunburned. Shopping was fun. The next day we went rafting down the Martha Brae river in Jamaica. Jamaica was not our favorite place. Rafting was fun and shopping was okay. We won't ever go there again. There was lots of fun activities on the ship - mini-golf, hot tubs & swimming, great food (24 hours a day!!), climbing wall, fun shows and entertainment, and more. We're hooked and can't wait to go on our next cruise. We would like to go on one to the ancient ruins in Mexico. Maybe if we aren't building a house next winter...

We came back to Washington to snow. The kids had 2 hour delay every day last week. It was nice to not have to rush in the morning getting them off to school. But it did take me almost an hour and a half getting them all to school in the morning. We've been getting a little more snow every day and are supposed to get 6-8 inches more tonight. It will be a white Christmas for us!

Well, that's a quick update from Kennewick. It's almost 11:00 so I better get some sleep before it's Christmas morning already!!

The Price of Gas...

2008-11-04T10:45:00.000-08:00

I was so excited last month when it cost me less than $100 to fill up the van - the first time since May! I filled up again today and it only cost me $71. I feel like we have so much extra money... not really...but it makes me happy anyway.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

2008-10-31T21:07:00.001-07:00

As you can see we got really creative this year...and used costumes from a few years ago. They fit the next child in line just perfectly. Evan hated the lion's mane, but was a good sport and actually wore it most of the night. I loved that you could only see about 2 inches of his face and from the back he looked like a little Tina Turner. The weather was perfect - 60 degrees. It is the warmest that a Halloween has been since we moved to Kennewick 6 1/2 years ago. In the past it's been 25-30 degrees.

Granny's Buffet allowed all kids who were dressed in costume to eat for free so 8 of us ate for the price of 2. Brett threw on a black cape so he could eat dinner.

We now have too much candy. I always throw a handful away each day when the kids are at school. That way they don't really notice. I can't imagine them eating all that candy - especially after going to the dentist this week and all of us being in the cavity-free club again. YIPPEE!!

Playing in the Canyon, Getting pretty with Granny, sick Evan, and Carving Pumpkins

2008-10-27T20:21:00.000-07:00

Here is everyone playing in Zintel Canyon after we took family pictures last weekend. The weather was perfect and of course the girls found a little creek where they found lots of stinky "clams." We stayed until Kehli fell in the water. Mark's parents came down this weekend for a visit. They took us to Granny's Buffet for dinner one night, which the kids think is the greatest treat. The girls love to put on Granny's make up and get all pretty. You can tell that Erin is more interested in looking beautiful and the other two get a little carried away with the eyeliner pencil. I told Erin that witches are supposed to be ugly and she informed me that it wasn't Halloween yet so she could be a pretty witch.

Brett, Jaylee & Evan have had the barfies the last few days. The only thing I like about having sick children is that they snuggle with us more. Evan, who is a little busy pants, will actually sit still and let you hold and rub him. Here he is snuggling with Mark on the couch. Why do they have to grow up so fast!?! Here we all are carving our pumpkins tonight. As you can see I still do it the old fashion way. Mark doesn't have the patience so he enlists the help of his tool box. Every time he turned it on Evan would run and say "monsters coming." I guess it scared him a little.

Family Pictures

2008-10-24T21:05:00.000-07:00

When Michelle was here last weekend she took our annual family pictures for us. I'm having trouble adjusting the picture on the blog - it keeps cutting off the right side of the picture. If anyone has any suggestions on how to fix that I'd love to hear them.

Jaylee is now a permanent fixture in our home. She's been with us for almost a month now. She and Erin share a room, she does chores, says the prayers, acts as a peacemaker (my favorite!!) and in general just blends in like she's always been here. We'll see how things progress in the coming weeks and months. She's a great girl and just wants so much to be part of a family, something she's never had before. So now there are eight of us under this roof. It's a good thing we bought a big van last year because now we only have one empty seat in it. I keep teasing Mark that we need to fill it - he's not amused. I'll try again another month...

I love the fall - the changing of the trees. That is what I miss most about living back east. We have a little bit of trees around here, but nothing like Maryland. Our family pictures were taken down in Zintel Canyon. There is a nice trail through it that we like to walk on and pick wild blackberries in the summer.

Time Out For Women - Portland, Oregon

2008-10-24T20:15:00.001-07:00

Here we (April Homer, Michelle Birch, & Me) are at Time Out For Women in Portland, OR last weekend. Michelle came up from Bakersfield, CA for a visit and we had a little weekend away. We had tons of fun shopping, relaxing, eating & getting rejuvenated. We could have easily stayed another night...

My sister, Heather, met us there from Eugene, OR and shared the hotel room with us. It was great to see her again.

Here we are relaxing in the hotel playing games in our jammies.

Then April & I being dorks at Denny's in The Dalles, OR. We really did have too much fun - if that is even possible!! I haven't laughed so hard in a long time.

A Smorgesborg of Things

2008-10-19T16:02:00.000-07:00

Brett got to go on one last scout camp out for the year last Friday so the girls wanted to go camping too. It was going to be in the 30's that night and I was worried about having Evan out in the cold so we just made a fort in the living room and the girls camped there. They thought it was great!!
Evan has been so into guns and shooting lately. This particular day he saw a squirrel on the fence in the back yard. He went and grabbed his gun and ran outside to get it. It was interesting because I watched from inside so I wouldn't scare the squirrel away. The squirrel would actually stop and watch Evan, even as he would stop to cock the rifle again. It was very amusing.
Here is a picture of all the free stuff (after rebate) that I got at Rite Aid last week. My rebate check for all this stuff will total about $112. It included cough medicine, lip balms, flu medicine, allergy medicine, throat lozenges, nasal sprays, saline rinses, headache medicine (adult & children), cold sore medication, mentholatum rub, and more. All the stuff that we need to keep us healthy and feeling good through the winter. That is the most free stuff that I have gotten at one time - I was so proud!!

Azteca - Girls' Lunch Date

2008-10-06T20:37:00.000-07:00

I forgot to include this in the last post. The girls got to go out for another fun time together last Friday for lunch. It was Sherilyn Mills (+2 kids), Rebecca Carter, Me (+Evan), April Homer (+2 kids), Cami Rhoten and her sister Chandra (in the pretty red hat). There were 6 mommies and 5 children. Despite the almost even ratio the floor still looked like a war zone. I guess that is why we tip big? I wish that I could speak Spanish - it would have been interesting to understand what the waiters were saying to each other each time they passed our table.

Where does the time go???

2008-10-06T20:03:00.000-07:00

WOW - it's been three weeks since I posted the last time. The kids are finally in a good routine with school. Brett told us last week that he is too lazy to do his work all the time. We aren't sure where that came from, but we told him that wasn't an option so now he's back-peddling to get his grades back up. Erin is doing fabulously well - even has a 100% in science. She has a great teacher (maybe I've said that before) and is excited about learning. Kehli is the resident Spanish expert and is always correcting Bubba on her pronunciation of words. It is so fun to listen to Kehli read her decodable books each day and she is now able to tell me the whole story back in English. Evan and I are having a great time with each other all day long. He has quite the imagination so we pretend - usually with a toy motorcycle and a stuffed doggie. He is just so much fun - I can't get enough of him!!

Mark is into the heavy harvest season and I am no longer surprised when his phone rings at 3:30 in the morning with the first problem of the day. I'm finally able to get back to sleep for a few last hours. I started working out at a gym again. Two friends (Cami & April) and I joined up and have been taking classes for two weeks. I started with weights again on Friday so I'm walking like a gimp. It's all good, right!?!

Here are some pictures of Evan. The first: I told him to look at me and say cheese and this is what I got...

Here he is being a big boy in daddy's work boots. He didn't get too far in them, but sure thought he was pretty cool:

And one last one with Evan's new "sister" Jaylee. She is a neighborhood girl that is with our family a lot. She was with us pretty much all summer and is now over every day during the week from after school until bedtime. She stays all weekend and is even with us tonight. We love her like she's our own. Evan just adores her and runs to her when the other kids won't leave him alone.

Canning, drying, eating fruit...

2008-09-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

I started canning peaches, pears & beets last Tuesday and finally finished Saturday night. I started with 11 boxes of produce. It was one of the longest weeks of my life, but it is over now and we have lots to show for all the effort. We have 90 quarts of fruit, 9 bottles of pickled beets and two bags of dried pears (those are the best!!). Plus some raspberry-peach jam, plain raspberry jam and several pans of peach crisp. I'm going to make peach-banana jam tomorrow. We still have some fresh fruit that we will eat up over the next few days - I just wish the harvest season lasted longer because I LOVE pears.

Last Friday was another Girls' Night Out. We celebrated Sherilyn Mills' birthday (she's the birthday queen with the crown). The party was themed after Dr. Seuss' book "Oh! the Places You'll Go." We ended up at Applebee's for half price appetizers and had a blast. Of coarse, we all ate too much, but it was well worth it.

I looked out the window this afternoon and saw Evan helping Brett mow the lawn. It was so cute! Brett was patient with him and let him help push for as long as Evan wanted, even though it took 2-3 times longer to get the lawn done. I pray that they will love each other like this forever.

Here's a helpful hint for every day living: If you are driving up the freeway at 70 mph it is possible for a gust of wind to knock a brand new, $900, 200 pound LG front loading washing machine out of the back of a pick-up truck. And, no, the styrofoam packaging and box do not protect it from the impact on the hard, black pavement as it tumbles like a basketball down the fast lane. In fact the styrofoam "explodes" into little white pieces and looks like snow as it is blown around by all the passing cars. It was a rough day.

Fastest Kid in the Tri-Cities Race

2008-09-11T22:29:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday one of the local high schools sponsored a "Fastest Kid in the Tri-Cities Race" to help raise money for their boys' cross-country team to go to an invitational down in California. Kehli was so excited to race - she is our runner, always beating everyone in P.E. She has endurance that I wish I could borrow sometimes! Erin chose to race also. Brett is too old (it only went through 6th grade) and Bubba wasn't interested, until it started and it was too late to register. Each race was divided into grade levels. Kehli's coarse was 1/2 mile and she ran it in 4.07 minutes and Erin had to run a whole mile finishing in 9.40 minutes. They both took second in their grade levels. The only two girls that beat each of them were daughters to a cross-country coach from another high school. I could hear their mom at the end of the race say, "that was good, but it took 3.55 minutes." I looked down to realize that I hadn't even worn a watch - I didn't realize how serious some people were about it! There is a boy from our church, Bram Holladay, that is on the cross-country team that ran with both Erin & Kehli. He was a HUGE help and I don't think they would have done as good if he wasn't along side them encouraging them to keep running. It was a fun morning that they kids are already looking forward to next year.

Morrow County OHV - Camping

2008-09-02T11:31:00.001-07:00

This Labor Day weekend we tried out a new campground. It is down by Heppner, Oregon and was just over 2 hours away. You could ride anywhere in the park as long as it was on a road. There were different tracks for different ages. Mark joined the poker ride. When he signed up he got his first card. Then there was a 30 mile course with 3 check points along the way where he got 3 additional cards. Then when he completed the course and checked back in he got his final card. He ended up having two pairs and coming in third out of almost 70 people. He won one of those portable tent/canopy things - we'll use it over the dirt pile to keep the kids in the shade. This picture doesn't show it too good, but Mark looked like he had a beard when he got back from the poker run. He was totally filthy where his helmet and goggles weren't covering him.

The kids had a blast. Brett was off on his dirt bike ALL day so he was never around to take pictures of. He loved the over 15 track and spent most of the day there until someone got hurt and they started enforcing the rules. He's complained the last few days about being sore from riding. Erin rode off and on all day. She enjoyed making "crafts" out of whatever she could find on the ground. At one point she found a little water snake and kept it until we convinced her that it would die if she kept carrying it around.

Kehli hasn't enjoyed riding since she ran into Mark a little while ago on her dirt bike. She wasn't hurt, but apparently it scared her enough to want to take a break.

Evan spent most of his time climbing up and down off Kehli's bike since it stayed parked in one spot. He was in his heaven - he went from dirt bike to four-wheeler and then back to dirt bike the whole time we were there. He even had to eat his breakfast on one! It won't be long until he's ready for his own ride (with training wheels of coarse)!

Kennewick Fire Department Open House

2008-08-28T15:39:00.001-07:00

The Kennewick Fire Department had an Open House on Tuesday night. It was lots of fun and very interactive for the kids. I thought the Girl Scout cookies were the best part, but the kids enjoyed dressing up like firepeople and squirting the hose. Evan was happy in his stroller, especially when Sparky the firedog came around. The local news channel interviewd me when we first got there and it was on the evening news. Here is a link to the KNDU story, but I can't find the news clip - just this blurb and picture http://www.kndu.com/global/story.asp?s=8905896 It was a great evening out!

First Day of School - August 26, 2007

2008-08-27T11:14:00.000-07:00

The kids started school on Tuesday. Kindergarten starts on a different schedule so Bubba went yesterday for an hour, but doesn't start full time until Friday. She's a little disappointed that she can't eat lunch at school until then.

Brett says all his teachers are funny - we'll see how long that lasts. He'll be playing the trumpet again, but doesn't have P.E. this year because they had to make room for all the kids that didn't take it last year from his grade. Apparently there were kids that had an extra reading class instead of P.E. in 6th grade. He now rides his bike to school which is nice because I don't have to leave the house in the middle of the morning routine to drop him off.

Erin has a great 5th grade teacher - there was one teacher that I requested she not get so I am pleased. She can't wait to be a patrol again, but has to wait for her turn. Erin is looking forward to setting off the rockets at the end of the year - a 5th grade tradition at her school.Kehli has two teachers again this year - Mrs. Solano for English and Ms. Chavez for Spanish. She got to go in the day before school started to drop off her supplies and meet her teachers. This year instead of having a Spanish partner they work in groups of 4-5. It will be good for Kehli to work with a group!

Kendall starts full time tomorrow - YEAH!! I'm not sure who is more excited, me or her. I'm looking forward to having one-on-one time with Evan. He's never had that. Bubba has Mr. Solano for Spanish and Ms. Baudrand for English. She is ready for the structure of school and a classroom.

in Moses Lake with Doug & Kristen

2008-08-15T21:06:00.000-07:00

Doug & Kristen and their family were up from southern California last week. We went up for the weekend and spent a few days with them. The kids played so well together - we were actually surprised. On Monday we went over to Moses Lake again to the aquatic center. This time Kehli & Bubba wanted to do the surfing. They are too short this summer to do the surfing standing up, but were able to do the body surfing. They are so light that they pretty much stayed in the same place and had to steer the board over to the side when the lifeguard thought they had been out long enough. You can tell by the smiles that they were having a blast.

Evan is finally liking the water this summer - it's August, better late than never. He went around the Lazy River a few times and even into the pool for a while. His favorite was the sprinkler area, which I hadn't even noticed when we were there in June.

Here are Doug & Kristen's kids (Riley, Jacob & Ryan) with a few of ours eating ice cream at the Quincy pool. Bubba was able to go down the slide at the Quincy pool so she likes it better than in Moses Lake. Maybe next year she will be tall enough.
We got an offer on the house this weekend, but it was a little ridiculous. She wanted a 90 day bump - meaning if someone wanted to buy our house we had to give her 90 days to either close on our house or pull out of the contract. So we countered back and we'll see on Sunday if she decides to sign our contract or just pull out all together. There are two other people very interested right now so if it doesn't work out we aren't too worried. Our realtor said that over the last 10 years she has sold 3 times more homes during late summer/fall so we are still hopeful that we'll be able to build our new home this winter.

Beehive Camp

2008-08-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to be a leader at Beehive Camp this month. Spending 4 full days with 8 girls age 12-13 was so much fun. It made me feel young again!! We camped up at Ensign Ranch in the Cascade Mountains. The weather was perfect - hot during the day, cold at night and clear skies. The stars were beautiful at night! The only thing that would have made it better was being able to sleep a little more than 5 hours per night. We got to go horseback riding one morning and spent the afternoons at a huge slip & slide. One day we went on a 5.5 mile hike through an old train tunnel through one of the mountains. It was cool to be in the middle of the tunnel and only be able to see a speck of light at each end. Below is our group on the west side of the tunnel after our lunch break. It was a beautiful view - lots of trees, green & wild flowers. I had to do the Sunrise Devotional the last morning of camp and it turned out better than I expected. There were about 70 people that went, which was a little intimidating, so I was glad when it was over.
Here is me on the rope swing. In the background you can see Emma Bryant on the platform that you had to climb up to swing down on the rope. It was scary at first, but soooooo much fun. The girls were impressed that I did it.
Here is the Child family picture from our reunion in July. I'm a little slow getting it posted. My cousin Brock took them for us and they turned out good. It is Mark's parents and all their children, grandchildren and 1 great grand child.

Fieldtrip to Petco - July 24, 2008

2008-07-25T14:14:00.000-07:00

Erin holding a ferret - she wants a pet so bad and can't wait until we move to get a dog. I think she'll be the one that takes care of our dog the most. She has always loved petting the dogs in the park.
Bubba (you can kind of see her new haircut in this picture) & Kehli looking at the parakeets. Two years ago we found a parakeet in our front yard and the kids still talk about it. Unfortunately it died two days after we went out and bought a cage, seed, toys and everything else we needed for it. I should have known better.
The kids all loved looking at the lizards, snakes and spiders - they must get that from their Grandpa Heath! Brett & Erin are trying to figure out how they can talk Mark into letting them get a small, caged pet. Good luck with that kids...
Back to the ferrets. I think the girl was sad that she let them out in the first place. The kids just didn't want to put them away. It was a fun "fieldtrip" mostly because it was nice and air conditioned!

Birthday dinner, Pioneer Day Celebration & Bubba's New Haircut

2008-07-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

The girls (Lisa Ellsworth, Marissa Hillman, April Homer, Carol DuRee, Rebecca Carter, Cami Rhoten, and me) celebrated July birthday's at Red Robin. Carol DuRee and I both have birthday's in July. I couldn't wait to eat the Whisky River BBQ burger with onion straws, garlic fries and a strawberry lemonade. My breath sure smelled good at the end of the night. I was too full to eat the whole free sundae, but a few bites were perfect. Thanks for a fun night girls!!!

Our Ward celebrated Pioneer Day last weekend with a picnic and games in the park. Erin and her partner, Anthony Rhoten, took first place - way to go!! Brett ran a race, but ended up on the ground instead of crossing the finish line. Kehli and her partner, Molly Stillwell, were very cautious but did great. Kehli is in the white shirt and pants next to Molly in the blue dress. Erin and Anthony are both wearing green shirts. I ran the last race with Marcia Stillwell. I'm sure we would have won if Caiden hadn't have gotten in front of us. Marcia is in the red shirt, I'm in the dark shirt. We ended up coming in second place :-(

I was sitting at swim lessons yesterday and looked up at Bubba to realize that she had cut her own hair that morning. I usually don't do their hair since they are getting in the pool so I had no idea. She took the hair on both sides, right next to her ears and cut them right off. There was no other way to fix it except to cut it all off. It was finally growing out. She cried when I told her we would have to cut it all off so I thought that would be punishment enough. But when the girl was all done Bubba said, "Oh, I like it. It is sooooooo cute." I'm guessing this won't be the last time she cuts her own hair. Mark almost cried when he saw it.

Changes

2008-07-13T22:32:00.001-07:00

Wow - I'm so impressed with myself!! I actually figured out how to make changes to our blog and add a list of links. I'm trying to not get so excited about it or I'll spend more time at the computer playing, and I don't really have tons of free time as it is.

Mark is starting to get pretty stressed out about our house not selling. We had hoped to get started on our new home at the end of August or September. The bank says we can start without selling, but I'm not real comfortable with that. We have another showing on Tuesday afternoon so we are keeping our fingers crossed that something may come of that. Our house is always in the top 2 or 3 on everyone's list which is discouraging. They either want a 3 car garage or a bigger yard. We'll see what happens this week...

These pictures are from Brett's first swim meet on Friday. The first is the back stroke (which he didn't know he was swimming) and the second is during the freestyle. He ended up swimming in four events instead of two and came in second in the freestyle. That is his favorite. He did very well especially considering it was his first meet and it lasted 3 hours. He's also one of the youngest on his team. I've decided that I enjoy watching him play baseball better, but swimming is good for him and keep him active. My pictures didn't turn out too good because I didn't realize we had to be at the meet an hour early to get a good seat. I had to zoom in about 100 times so they are a little fuzzy. I'll do better next week.

Trip to Utah - July 2-6, 2008

2008-07-09T12:56:00.001-07:00

We go to visit with my grandparents in Magna the first and last nights that we were there. The kids had fun being tortured (tickled) by Grandpa and he was so happy to get hugs from them all. We had to tell them to slow down because Grandpa just isn't as fast as he used to be.

Brett got to ride down with Mark's parents a couple of days early so he could spend some extra time with his cousins. They had a great time taking turns riding the "hog" up and down the street. We went to the Bit 'N Spur Rodeo in Tooele on July 4. The kids favorite part was the muttin' bustin' at the beginning. They thought it was so funny to see those kids riding the sheep. If we had known that they were so interested we would have signed them up - maybe next time... Brett liked wearing that pretty pink cowgirl hat that belonged to his cousin. ha ha

Erin & Bubba in a tree near where we took a whole family picture. I'll have to post those later. It was a challenge getting 34 people to look in the same direction at the same time, but the pictures turned out good all things considered.

Evan loved being outside for 3 days straight despite the heat. He was a good little trooper in the car for two days there and back. If we could have just figured out a way to keep Bubba from picking on him. We decided to take Mark's truck instead of the van because of the price of gas. We figured out that we saved close to $400 not driving the van. It was worth it!!

Kehli & Addie (Ken's youngest daughter) had a great time together. They are about 4 months apart and always pick up right where they left off the last time we were together. The middle picture includes Jared (Ken's youngest son), Kehli, Addie & Kendall. The picture on the right is Bubba, Addie & Kehli at an aquatic center. We spent Saturday afternoon at the Deseret Peak Complex swimming and getting cleaned up. Some of us hadn't taken a shower in a couple of days so it felt so good to get wet! Maybe that is why it took so long for the rest period at the pool - the chemicals were really off balance!

It was a great trip and now the kids are asking when the next family reunion is. They will have to be patient until 2010 because we only do this every other year.

Cole's Baptism - Moses Lake, WA

2008-06-30T22:35:00.000-07:00

This last weekend we went up to Moses Lake to my nephew's baptism. It was my sister's (Heather) middle child, Nicholas. It was blazing hot so we were grateful to spend the day at the aquatic center eating and swimming. The kids had a blast, except for Evan. He hates the water so far this year and we had to trick him into the water every time.

Here's Brett attempting a flip off the diving board. He's getting better...

Erin coming off one of the slides. Kehli was tall enough this summer to go down by herself, but none of my pictures of her turned out.

Me and Evan - as you can see he's having the time of his life. He didn't even touch the water, but screamed all the way around the lazy river. I'm sure everyone around us appreciated it.

Here are Erin & Brett trying out the surf area - guess which one won the contest!?

Evan finally enjoying the day - under the picnic shelter with a bag of Cheetos in front of him.

We're off to Utah on Wednesday for the Child Family reunion. Mark & I are in charge of it so I'll be glad when it's over. We also get to see my grandparents and other family while we are there so we are looking forward to it no matter how short the trip is. Have a happy and save 4th of July!!

June Update

2008-06-24T22:21:00.001-07:00

Bubba with Teacher Michelle - Kendall graduated from preschool at the end of May. She said she is going to miss Teacher Michelle because she is so pretty and nice. At graduation Teacher Michelle shared the story of Kendall learning her address. Our house number is 1911 so Bubba was practicing her address on everything (calculator, phone, etc...). Well, anytime you dial 911, no matter if there are numbers before or numbers after, you get a friendly visit from a very nice police man. Ours happened to be the same day we were having company for dinner so that was real fun. Bubba learned so much at preschool and is ready to start Kindergarten in August in the Dual Language program. She can already count to 10 in Spanish so she thinks she knows it all all ready.

Erin was so excited to get trained to be a patrol next year. She felt very important and loved the orange flag that they gave her. She took her duties pretty seriously and can't wait to have her own corner next year. Erin turned 10 last week and wanted to get her nails done for the first time. She has a bad habit of biting her nails down to nothing so we got her a gift certificate to use when her nails grow a little. She also wanted make-up, but I told her maybe when she's 18 - she was satisfied so I didn't tell her I was just kidding.

Brett finished up baseball season winning only one game in the All-City Tournament. It was more than what people expected so we were happy. It was so different being on a not so winning team for the first time this year. Brett learned a lot and is determined to be a better pitcher next year. I hope he will work as hard as he promised.

Our garden is in full bloom. We had more strawberries this year than we have had in the combined last 5 years. Evan & Bubba are my best berry pickers so far. The rasberries are just coming on and I can't wait to make some jam with them. The vegetables are starting to bloom and it looks like the pumpkins will produce a lot - they've had many flowers on them this last week. Hopefully the squash and cukes will do good as those are the family favorites.

Right now Kendall & Kehli are attending Spanish camp in the mornings. Brett & Erin started swim lessons. Brett decided to be on swim team this summer so that will be good exercise for him. He is one of the youngest on the team with kids as old as 17. He was a little intimidated at first, but seemed okay once it was over. We'll see how things go after the first meet. We leave next week for a Child family reunion in Utah and the kids can't wait. It will be lots of fun and nice to see my gradparents and other family members in Magna.

I'm trying to do better updating this blog. When Mark's mom, who we see the most out of anyone, bugs me that I haven't updated our blog for a few weeks I know it's time. Thanks for the reminder ;-)

Bubba is 5

2008-05-27T14:24:00.001-07:00

Bubba turned 5 this las weekend. She took a friend, Lissy, to McDonald's for lunch and they had so much fun playing together. She took cupcakes to preschool and got to have a picnic at the park with Granny & Papa on Saturday evening. Plus the Home Teachers sang happy birthday to her before treats on Sunday. Her favorite present is her new Barbie scooter and matching helmet, elbow & knee pads. And she now has $5 that she can't wait to spend on gum at the store. Oh, to be 5 again...

Walla Walla Fieldtrip with Erin

2008-05-27T13:51:00.000-07:00

old stage coach and Erin by the Lewis & Clark exhibit

Last Friday I got to go on the 4th grade field trip with Erin to Ft. Walla Walla and the Whitman Mission. They have been reading and studying about this in their class for several weeks. It was only 90 degrees that day so it was a perfect day for walking around. It was interesting and informative. Erin thought all the beaded dresses were pretty and bought a kit to make her own beaded purse. She was enthralled with the old combine and that it had to be pulled by over 30 horses and had 5 men on it. Her Papa's combine has an enclosed cabin, air conditioning, a radio and padded seat. She said, "Wow, Papa has it easy."

Over a year already...

2008-05-20T09:34:00.000-07:00

Well, I started this blog over a year with good intentions. Having baby #5 made me realize that I'm not the super-mom that I thought I was. I have been "missing" for a long time now from the email and I am truly sorry to everyone for that. I will try to do better, with email and with updating this blog. It will be a good way to keep a sort of family history and keep in touch with friends and family across the country.

Baseball season is almost over for Brett. He has his last regular season game tonight. All-City Tournament starts next week - it's double elimination so we'll play at least two games. It has been so fun to watch him play this year in the "major league." He has really improved this year and loves to play. He'll play one more year in this league and then it's off to Cal Ripken league or school ball.

Erin is looking forward to 4th grade being over and getting back into swim lessons. She has finally discovered reading and it's hard to find her without a book now. We are hoping to get her into a math camp during the summer to help with her math skills. It's definitely not her best subject, but she sure tries. She can't wait to be able to shave her legs.

Kehli can now read a book in Spanish, but still has difficulty translating it into English. Her language skills are there, but she's still learning the vocabulary. She is up to a reading level 14, which is great considering she started a year later than her classmates, some of whom she has passed. The goal is to be at level 18 by this month so she's not too far off.

Bubba loves her purple blanket. It doesn't matter how hot it is, she has to be totally wrapped up in it. She got accepted into the Dual Language Program and is excited to start learning Spanish this fall. She has preschool graduation next week - it's hard to believe that she's going to Kindergarten already! She continues to keep us on our toes.

Evan is growing up too quickly. He's starting to talk more and loves Brett more than I can describe. It's going to be hard not having a baby around any more. He loves to ride on Mark's dirtbike with him and throws a fit when it's time to get off. He also loves to ride on Brett's scooter. He calls it the "weeeeeee" and gets so happy when one of the kids takes him outside to ride it. All the kids just adore him.

Mark & I keep busy. Mark is watching the crops grow down at work and enjoying the down time a little. He has been able to come home for lunch often and Bubba really enjoys that. He can't wait to start building our new house this fall. He really needs a project to work on! I am working with the school board to try and expand the Dual Language program to include one more classroom (currently there are two). There are 17 English speaking families currently on the wait list for the fall, which means most of them won't get the opportunity to take advantage of the program. Also, there are 13 Spanish speaking families that would be left out. We are trying to get a decision before the end of the year. Well, I'm off to Albertson's to take advantage of their weekly sales.

Check back often for updates!!

Welcome

2007-04-27T11:04:00.000-07:00

Hello All -

I've gotten pretty bad with keeping in touch with everyone over the last year or so. I thought this would be a good way to keep you all updated on our family. I'll try to post on a regular basis and include pictures. If you have any suggestions let me know because this is all new to me.