Victor Parade

We were able to meet up with Nate, Hillary, Walker & Daisy F. at the Victor, ID parade, of all places. There were hundreds of people lining the streets for this small town parade.

What would a parade in Idaho be without a ginormous potato?

...and bagpipes.
the boys' favorite

Daisy Alan & Mr. T

Jake & Walker F.

Lander's portrait of Josherboy

Gram's old bishop, Kerry Buxton, teaching Jake & Lander one more form of wrestling...Lander won....thanks to Bishop Buxton's help!

4th of July

We spent the 4th in Driggs with Grams, Alan, Heather & Baby Tillamook. Somehow I missed getting a picture of those three. It was cold & rainy all day which meant no hiking, no canoeing, and no water balloon fight, but we did fit in 4 (or was it 5) games of Seafarers of Catan and the rain paused long enough for our itty-bitty fireworks show. Dixie & Grams--gotta love self portraits...and the jackets. Only in Idaho are jackets a must when lighting fireworks.

See. Even the boys have to wear jackets. Not just us wimpy girls.

...and check out the view...

Woo woo! Hey, Babe! Can you light another firework for us??

Jake

Lander

more from Utah

After a crazy week at the hospital, I finally found the time to finish posting pictures from our trip to Utah. Here are a few more shots from the craziness:

Lander at Jumpin JacksDrew, Lander, Jayden & Jake making silly poses at Hogle Zoo.

Nice spagetti arm, Jake!

Lander's hole in one
Dixie making a momento for Josh

One of Jake's THREE hole in ones. He won two free mini-golf passes for those hole in ones. Yippee! Jake & Lander at arcade

Jake, killing time at the park

Jake beat the adults on game night. He liked it. A lot.

Can you tell?

Jayden & Lander at Jumpin Jacks

Lander joins the Bird Show

Lander was chosen (we think! Afterwords we realized the guy might have been pointing to the kid sitting behind Lander---whoops!) to help out with the bird show at Hogle Zoo. He got to hold seeds & let a bird fly to him. The zoo keeper gave him a coupon for a gallon of chocolate milk for
helping out. Boy, did they pick the right kid to give the coupon to!

I don't usually enjoy attending shows, but this one was really worth seeing. Here is a picture of an owl that flew right over our heads. Another huge owl actually brushed my head as it flew by. I was afraid that I would get pooped on too, but luck was on my side.

Hogle Zoo

While the big boys played, Shelly & I did our best to entertain the little boys. On our first day we met up with Jaime (my long-time college friend) & her two kids at Hogle Zoo. I realized that the last time I was there, I was 12 & inadvertently watched antelopes mating (much to Dad & Uncle EJ's amusement). I was so embarrassed! This time the mating antelopes were no where to be seen, and the trip was a huge success.

Ava J., Jayden J., Drew J., Jake, Lander, Kaitlyn W., Chase W.

Don't let the glum faces on my boys fool you. They had so much fun. We literally had to chase after them as they ran from one exhibit to the next. We toured the zoo in record time, I'm sure.

Disc Golf MINNESOTA style

After waiting for nearly 6 months to receive their Christmas gifts, the boys finally found themselves in Minnesota. The weather was rainy & humid, but guess what? There were NO bugs!

.

Jarrod & Eric walking a course.Josh, Eric & Jarrod on ski hill overlooking Minneapolis.
Eric & Josh on one of the beautiful courses. Imagine throwing a disc (aka frisbee for the rest of us) straight through those trees. Crazy.

Surprise!

"A disc golf trip to Minnesota? NO WAY!"

Josh & two of his brothers were surprised with a boys only trip to the official "Disc Golf Mecca" of the world, Minneapolis, Minnesota--a trip they had dreamed about for years. It was their Christmas/Father's Day/Don't-even-think-about-asking-for-anything-else-for-the-year gift. They found out about it on Christmas Eve.

Ace

This is a picture of the Ace (aka hole-in-one) that Josh got this weekend at the Blackfoot, Idaho disc golf course. It was a 181 foot hole. Way to go Babe!

New Moon Trailer

I'm not sure what I think about this. Seems like they changed some really critical things. What do you guys think?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ9afRgToxE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Enewmoonmovie%2Eorg%2F2009%2F05%2Fnew%2Dmoon%2Dtrailer%2Dpremiere%2Dfrom%2Dmtv%2Dmovie%2Dawards%2F&feature=player_embedded

(So, I am retarded, but I don't know how to embed the actual video clip from YouTube onto my blog. Can someone clue me in?)

Bear World

Jake's class went to Bear World for a field trip last week. Here are some photos from the adventure:

Jake petting Fawn

Jake petting Pot-Bellied Pig

Grizzly Bear
Jake & Mommy on the Bus

Rare Albino Elk

Learning to Ride

Jorge, Lander, Jake

My boys feel left out because we are practically the only family around--at least they think so--that doesn't have a 4 wheeler or a motorcycle. Motorcycles scare me. I have just seen too many people hurt on them, but I finally caved & let the boys learn how to ride. I made them ride around our house, but they still had fun.

Quiz Results

We want to congratulate everyone for answering the quiz correctly. Sorry to the rest of you losers who were too afraid to make a guess. Better luck next time. For those of you still wondering, the correct answer was (Ding, ding, ding! Attention everyone. Are you ready for this?)

D. Uncle Lamar

Lets find out why the other answers were not correct.

A. Bob A. Mickelson -- Seriously, does anyone have to ask?

B. Josherboy -- I said that the wise man was hairy. Obviously, this rules him out. Although he has been known to use the quote on occasion.

C. President Obama --Once again you need to listen to the words. I said a "wise" man. Come on you guys!

words of WISDOM

A wise & fairly hairy, but totally lovable, wise man once told me "don't knock it 'till you try it". Keri, perhaps you should heed his advice! ;) And on that note, I think it's time for a little pop quiz!

Which wise man gave this sound advice?
A. Bob A. Mickelson
B. Josherboy
C. President Obama
D. Uncle Lamar

Make your guesses! The winner will be awarded with good luck for a year. Losers will have their toenails fall off, one by one, find hair in all of their food, and will be forced to listen to Katy Perry's song about kissing females every time they drive in the car. So guess carefully!

the countdown begins

I am supposed to be reading a book. For the book club that is meeting tomorrow. At my house. To discuss the book I recommended. I'm on page 45. It's really good. Honest. But somehow I got a little sidetracked...
Need I say more?

batter up!

It's spring & that doesn't just mean wind at our house. Okay, so we do have wind, horrible gusts of it, but we also have baseball. Jake & Lander are playing on the same team this year. Jake will confidently tell anyone who will listen that he is "the best player on the team" and then use that as an excuse to ditch practice. Lander is just plain ole' excited to be able to play on the big kid team, and he actually does pretty good, even if he is half the size of most of the players. Josh is helping with the coaching, a requirement so that Lander can play in the older league, which also means that Josh gets to pitch every game.

Snakey

Lander as catcher

Why is it that every time my boys pose for pictures they either make a "cool" sign or pretend to fight? Maybe they are just "discussing" the team's name. Lander swears that their name is pronounced "AZZ". Jake, like any loving and overly bossy sibling, is always quick to correct him.

bathroom is finished...

...at last! We still have a bit more to work to do in the basement (some trim, carpet & cabinetry), but it is a vast improvement from one month ago!

3 weeks ago:

today:

and just in case you didn't get a close enough look at my tile job, here is the view from the family room...not too shabby if I don't say so myself ;)

"My Cousin and I"

(Devin, Jake, Lander, Bri)

a short story by Jake:

It all started when we were going on a trip to St. George at the edge of Utah. We had a long trip. I thought it was going to take forever! We stopped first at my aunt's and uncle's. They live about 900 miles away. Well, we made it and it took 1000 miles and three days of driving. Don't ask! We didn't wreck! Oh yeah, sorry! We were going to have so much fun. We played Mario Cart Wii's then we played in the sandbox. It was fun! We jumped in the pool. In fact my cousin's name is Devin. Back to when we started, in my cousin's pool...SPLASH yaaaaaa!

my little CLONE WARRIORS

More for the keeping it real series... I took these pictures last week. The boys were playing a game they call "Clone Warriors" something they came up with after watching Star Wars with Alan. I totally love Lander's shorts & snow boots. Jake was bare foot for a while too. Geez. Who is their mother? (Relax, it was actually sort of warm, I think maybe 42 that day)

sleepy head

Looks comfy, doesn't it?

Lander does the dishes

Thanks buddy!

Jake goes to the dentist

See this sweet boy? He has been so good lately & tons of fun to have around! So it was today after my sweet little 8 year old had to get a cavity filled that I told him we would go buy ice cream to make a treat after dinner because he was so brave.

...

When we got to the store he asked if he could get something else.

Seriously.
And this is what I had to prepare for (gulp) dinner last night.

The man at the meat counter said that it wasn't hard to prepare. "You just skin it, like chicken. It's really easy." Yeah, right. After an hour of trying to skin the slimy thing, it was finally ready to cook.

Talk about an experience.

I am pretty adventurous, but there are some things in this world that just aren't right. Skinning an octopus is one of them.

another reality check

Sometimes I wish the reality checks would just stop!

It seems like every week I hear about another family member or friend who is suffering from a severe illness, death, disease, or heartache. Today, my 15 year old neighbor (who was also my home health patient) passed on to the next life. I feel very somber as I think about what his family is going through. My heart aches for their loss.

This young man, lived a good life & fought a good fight. His passing has helped me pause to consider my blessings & give thanks for each day that I have to spend with my family, and for the chance to learn & grow.

Here are the words of Rick Warren, as he helped his wife fight cancer:

"We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's
not the goal of life. The goal is to grow in character, in
Christ likeness....

"We need to ask ourselves: Am I going to live for
possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by
pressures? Guilt? Bitterness? Materialism? Or am I going to
be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?"

So the question I want to pose to each of us is: What are we each living for?