Father's Day 2009

Maybe our family just isn't meant to have holiday pictures???

Joe went progressively downhill until he was finally turned completely around backward.





But you get the idea...maybe next year we'll pull it off...

Scout Olympics

Jason and Jacob attended a three day camp out with their troop this week. Friday night, the families were invited up to watch the obstacle race and then stay for a potluck dinner and the Court of Honor!

The Young Women's group went up to a campground nearby to complete some of their precamp certifications and came over to the scout camp for the race and dinner.

On our way up to the camp, we met Grandpa Gary and Chewelah and gave him his Father's Day gift...Happy Father's Day, dad!!



I was asked to take pictures of the kids as they went through the "Walk on Stilts", "Archery" and "Zipline" parts of the course. (If we get any pictures of our kids at other stations, I'll add them later.)

I wasn't able to get any pictures of the our kids on stilts - the pictures turned out too blurry. But here they are at Archery...Jacob and Maddie (Jason decided to run a station this year and not compete in the race.)




At one point in the course, the kids had to dive through a huge mud...puddle...(puddle is an understatement). Then they came down the zipline.

Maddie at the end of the zipline - then her full mud pose...after which, she full on hugged her mom!




Jacob on the zipline and his mud shot - and he was kind and DIDN'T hug his mom!




After the race the younger kids got turns on the zipline...here's Megan at the end.



Jason and Joseph messing around...




These guys were sure little troopers! Somehow Jared, Dad & Meredi managed to dodge the camera the entire night! We'll have to make up for it next time!!

Happy Birthday, Melanie Jayne!

Melanie turned 5 yesterday! She had a great birthday! Dad stayed home and spent the day with us - helped bake her cake, blew up balloons, did some last minute party shopping - it was a great day!

Jaynie and her Tinkerbell cake! She had seen a white wedding cake at the bakery that had pink roses and told me she wanted her birthday cake to look like that...I thought we came pretty darn close, but she informed me that it didn't have "levels" (tiers) like the wedding cake! Ok, mom can only do so much with Betty Crocker!!



Jaynie posed for a picture after opening each picture...(here are a few)





Just before blowing the candles out...

Still...

Four years later we STILL miss grandpa. There isn't anything we wouldn't give to have him back. Sure, we take comfort in knowing where he is and that we'll see him again...but that doesn't keep us from missing him...daily. We are so grateful for the influence he was, and will always be, in our lives.

Jacob's Day

Don't suppose it would surprise anyone to hear that the reason Jacob's birthday update is late is because we were having internet problems, would it?? :) Thankfully, everything is now 100% fixed (at least for today) - new satellite provider - hopefully that will do the trick!

Anyway, here is Jake's birthday...the fun stuff!

Yes, mom gives boring clothes...



iPod Nano - which I think has been attached to his hand since he opened it! Didn't get a picture of him with his Super Smash Bros Brawl game for the Wii or of him with his new scriptures. 12 is an expensive age! :) (I also forgot to give the grandma's a thank-you for the cards/$$ that they sent. Both Grandma Margaret and Grandma Lee were early for Jacob's birthday and I forgot to mention them...thanks for remembering our boy's special day!...and I did mention the Leatherman that Grandma & Grandpa gave him earlier in the month so he could take it camping, just not here.)



We had angel food cake with strawberries and whipped cream...it was all scooped together as we served so there wasn't a cake picture to be taken.



And a token "Surprise Mom" picture I found of Joseph on the camera...

Happy Birthday Jacob!

Twelve years ago, our "upside down baby" was born - mom's first c/section! :)

6 months



1 year



3 years



What a wonderful child - of course mom always thinks of him as her baby...even though now he's anything but a baby now! Where do the years go?

Happy Memorial Day

Today was a BEAUTIFUL day!! It was so sunny and so warm! Such a welcomed break from the cold and rain we've had since...well, November!

Mikelle and some of the little cousins. Joseph, Melanie and Malorie think Mikelle is the best!



Shauna & Maddie



"Who is the tallest cousin?" (Shane, Shauna & Jason)



Malorie & Becca (I called their names so they'd turn around for another picture. I asked them what they were doing and they answered, "We're sitting by grandpa." instantly turning THIS into the cuter picture.)



The whole fam! (Lucky for us, Marlee brought a boyfriend/picture-taker home this year so everyone could be in the family picture!)



Cousins...



Some aunts, an uncle, more cousins...



Mikelle and Joseph



Gracie and Mom



Maddie

Ouch!

This is what it looks like when you're almost 5 years old and a family sized can of soup rolls off the kitchen table and falls on your toe! Poor Jaynie!

Oh yeah, Mother's Day

I don't have a lot of photos to share for our Mother's Day here. It was a beautiful sunny day. Brandon didn't have to leave early for meetings (that was the best gift ever). We had wonderful Strawberry Shortcake for breakfast and a roast for dinner! It was a great day!

Brandon and the kids gave me a game for the Wii - yes, that's what I asked for! :)

And I also kind of got a Mother's Day picture...whadda ya think?



Last year I wanted a picture with the kids, but failed to give everyone enough notice before church, so it didn't happen. Oh sure, we could have done it after church, but we all look pretty hammered when we get home!

This year, I remembered and gave everyone 2 hours notice that I wanted everyone posing for a picture with mom for Mother's Day before we left...and this is the best we could come up with.

Maybe NEXT year we'll pull it off???

The Hummers are back!

I can't tell you how much I love our hummingbirds! They make me so happy! I finally captured a picture of "Red" - he's the one hummer that we don't see very often...maybe once or twice a week he'll spend a day with us. He's fast and he's mean. He won't let any of the other birds around "his" feeder. I am just blown away by his beautiful color. I have tried for weeks to get a photo of him and finally, just this week, DID IT!!





My next quest is to get a photo of our black chinned hummer. When you can get a close enough look, the black is actually a deep purple. Beautiful!!

This and That...

A few things that have gone on over the past couple of weeks!

Jacob got an early birthday present - a Leatherman from Grandpa to take on his camp out.



Meredi has mastered standing and is venturing in to short walks between people.



Megan has developed in interest in the guitar and Jason enjoys teaching her.



$3.50 in pennies! I wish I had gotten the camera fast enough to get a video of them jumping with the pennies. They were flying EVERYWHERE!! (Oh, and we know it was $3.50 because we found the 7 empty 50¢ paper rolls in Jacob's room!)

Math Team Masters 2009

This was Jacob's third year to compete on the Math Team! Back in February his team qualified to participate in the Masters competition held in Moses Lake this last weekend. I'm not sure why, but the school wouldn't/couldn't/didn't provide a math team coach and pretty much told the kids that they were out of luck. Jacob asked every teacher he could think of to help them out...even went back to the elementary school to ask previous coaches for help...finally, Dad stepped in and did the job.



Here's the team getting ready for the college bowl.




And here they are in the thick of it...




Thanks to Grandma Janet's help, Meredi and Mom were able to travel and be there, too.



When it was all said and done, the team placed 9th! We are so proud of them! This is a state wide competition - the best of the regions compete - and to place 9th is impressive!!

Jacob placed 8th in the individiual competition. He never ceases to amaze us!!