Finally Getting Around To It

Saw these geese while driving in Milwaukie Oregon the other day. Aren't they cute!

Okay, I should never say "Things will be easier when..." I thought that surely in the summer I would find more time to keep the blog up to date, take more pics, etc, etc, etc. Uh no!

Just to catch everyone up to date, things are going well here. Taylor only has six weeks left of boot camp and is doing awesome. He sends letters pretty frequently and says it's not too bad. The only thing he hates is the food (They don't eat healthy enough for him). I would have never guessed that when he was a kid. He marches a lot and they are now on to several mile hikes with 60 pound backpacks. He is also having Rifle training. We are looking forward to going to San Diego and watching him graduate on September 3rd.

Ally wishes she were older and more independent. We, as parents, are stifling to her independent streak by worrying about safety and her going places alone. We blame it on her great looks and our parental responsibility. Hopefully she makes it through this frustrating time for her. She is really an awesome person and I personally hope she lets me travel the world with her when she gets older!

Cameron is really into exercise right now. He can bench press and leg lift so much more than I ever could. He is also a great big brother to the little boys. He will be in eighth grade. Unbelievable.

Sarah is eight now and was baptized in Utah by her dad. It was really great to be with so many family members and Sarah loved having a cousin to share the excitement. Thanks Jonah for waiting so that you and Sarah could be baptised together. She then finally got her ears pierced. She looks so cute. Her life is about playing with friends and being outside. Her smile lights up my world. The drama is beginning though and I don't have to like that, right?

Rylee is five and a half. He starts kindergarten this fall and he is either so cute or so terrible. Just depends on the day. Although the terrible side of him is sometimes fun to watch, I prefer the sweet boy who tells me he loves me better than anyone.

Ross is eight and I really enjoy having him here in our home but he and Rylee butt heads (several times a day). My newest strategy is that they must hold hands whenever they fight. I think I just enjoy the physical humor that it brings along with it. :)

Scott and I just plug along doing all that is required to raise six kids and keep a marriage and a home going strong. It sounds boring when I type it but we actually really enjoy it. It must be the details that make it fun: the wonderful personalities of the kids and wonderful friends and family that turn our actions into a life. We love you all!

Random Pics

Sarah is a fish. Since the moment she was put into a swimming pool, she had taken to it naturally. She was two or so when she fell into the pool and when we fished her out, she took a huge breath! She held her breath instinctively and has never looked back. This is a cute pic of her at Cherry Hill in Utah.

Ally got her artistic talent from someone other than me. This is a portrait she made for her art class at school. I love it!

Ry makes funny faces. Just thought this one was pretty cute.

Random Pics from Utah

I got to see my brother in his true character while on vacation. Here he is on his motorcycle, complete with leather chaps, cool hat, and goggles. Wish I could look this cool on a bike:)

This is a tree at Mueller Park in Bountiful. Trees call Cameron's name and this one was no exception. He scaled it in no time much to the dismay of my friend who was sure he would fall. Lucky for us he was perfectly fine. I pray when he climbs trees. He must have been two stories off the ground.

While at Mueller park, we buried the ashes of our beloved dog Carmel. In the pic, you can see a rock currounded by pinecones by Sarah's feet. That is her final resting place. I still miss her.

We also went to see Shannon's gravesite. Jeannine and Don's oldest daughter would be 20 this August. It is hard to believe she has been gone so long. I layed in the grass at the cemetary and soon my two kids were laying by me. It took six times to get the pic right.

Sarah"s 8th Birthday

For Sarah's birthday we took her to Multnomah Falls and Crown Point. She loves Crown Point especially when it is very windy. Although we didn't have wind, we did get to share her cupcakes with the Hokanson family and another family we met at the outlook point for the Gorge. What fun we had!

Sarah loves her dad and by the picture you can tell the feeling is mutual. She climbed onto his shoulders and I knew it was a Kodak moment.

Also for her birthday, she got her own room. When Taylor left for Boot Camp, Cameron moved into Taylor's room and then he helped Sarah move into his old room. She said to me as she fell asleep in her bed the first night, "I have waited so long to be able to say Get out of my room."
Happy Birthday Sarah!

A New family picture

So here is a new family picture. It feels so awesome to have a recent photo before our family sends Taylor out into the world next week. We don't have our Ross in the photo because of restrictions by the state but we love him just the same. I will post more photos later but I was excited to get this one up for all the world to see. Love you all!

Hi Everyone

Well, they say time heals all wounds. We have found that the loss of our dog Carmel has left us wanting to shower that doggy love on another pet that needs us too. This is Orie. We have other pics but this is the one most accessible on the computer. It is her pic from the shelter. Above it, the words were "I am adoptable." Who wouldn't fall for that? She came from the Dog shelter in our county. So far, we have really enjoyed having another dog. Although we miss Carmel, some of the things Orie does remind us of her. Other things teach us how much we have to learn as dog owners. Wish us luck in our new Doggie adventures! Sarah loves to cook, decorate, etc. The other day she asked if she could make a fruit plate. What a great job she did, all by herself. It seemed that she looked so cute and the fruit plate so beautiful that we needed a picture. By the way, the fruit was delicious. Great job, Sarah!

Mantras

There are many mantras I have adopted in my marriage and in raising children. The most used one at this stage of the game is, "If it ain't broke, it ain't ours." This is usually repeated by me and my husband in unison as yet another household item becomes junk or at least maimed by the household chaos we live in. That being said, I give you an episode that occurred at our house this weekend.
We were working in the yard and had just discovered that another household item was broken. This time it was the weed trimmer which had bit the dust (someone ran over it or otherwise caused it to become less than the once solid piece of machinery it was. So Scott and I started to repeat the above stated mantra, more to each other than to anyone else. The next thing I knew, Sarah was standing by me and looking up at me with a smile on her face, she said, "But Mom, I'm not broken and I am yours."
In that one short statement, my mind snapped into recognition of what was important and what was not. I t is easy to replace items but not to replace people. Thanks Sarah for the perspective shift I was in need of that day.