Keller Clan

A Few Random Moments

2010-09-20T10:55:00.000-07:00

Curt took the boys to hike down to the bottom

of the Grand Canyon to Phantom Ranch in May

Luke & Rhett (cousins) are discovering each other

Dad holding the youngest grandkids

Brent, Ian & cousin Keith

Grandma Donna & Grandpa Rob

Callin plays "Danielle Boone" ?

Ian's 1st day of High School

Eliza & Josh start 3rd & 6th grade

Curt's parents came to visit in August

Isaac & Big D (Dallas) his best buddy & neighbor.

Got to love his choice in socks.

Lovely Summer Days in Seattle

2010-09-19T21:48:00.000-07:00

I got a good nap today for my birthday & so I'm treating myself to staying up a little later to do a long overdue blog post to share a few pics of our family vacation this summer to Seattle.

Washington is always spectacular in July & this was one of the most wonderful, relaxing trips we have ever had. We always have such a terrific time visiting the WA Kellers & McCreadies. Their hospitality is unparalleled. Here are a few snapshots from our days at the river, the lake & the campfire. Thank you dear family! We love you!

Luke & Katie

Lukie

Our little man-- Isaac

Isaac & Markus-- enjoying the river

Eliza & Josh

Ian & Jacob Barrus

Luke & Kate

Josh at the Campfire

Curtis enjoying his last vacation BB (Before Bishop)

Isaac enjoying his S'more

Laura, Aimee, Luke & Carol at the campfire

Josh, Eliza & Isaac at our usual Pikes Place trip for Chowder & doughnuts

Curt, Sarah & Sue on Lake Washington for Ward's Bday trip

"The Birds" enjoy a little R & R on the boat

Carol & Ward-- Ward's 79th Birthday

The boys getting a wood chopping lesson from Boppa

Me & Luke

Jordan, Nathan & Josh

The Whole Keller Clan-- (almost)

The Original Keller Clan

The Grandkids

Our little brood

Sarah, Ward & Curtis on the Ferry to Bainbridge Island

Fish & Chips at Ivars & feeding the gulls on the Waterfront

The Bertagnoles & Nathan's one day mohawk

The Keller Clan-- Take 2

Eating out at the Ridge

Steve & Sarah

Curt & Sarah-- (again BB :)

Kesler Lane Triathaletes

2010-05-08T22:17:00.000-07:00

Somehow about a month ago my neighbor (& good friend) Jamie talked me into doing a triathalon with her. The event was a women's only Sprint distance triathalon held this morning at the Tempe Town Lake. We eventually got our other 2 friends on our street to join us & here we are at the race. Below is our first photo, before we found Autumn.

Anna, Jamie, Autumn, & Aimee

Jamie, the only race veteran, is cruising! She is our leader & inspiration!

Jamie crossing the finish line.

Watching the finish line.

All of us at the finish! Yeah! We did it! I reached my goal of 1:45.

We swam 800m, biked 13.5 miles & ran 3.1m.

Memorable moments include: training daily at the gym,

the practice swim in the lake,

Anna's bike crash,

Autumn joining the swim relay the day before the race,

the sleepless night before the race,

hyperventilating & becoming disoriented & almost delirious on the swim,

starting my run with my bike helmut still on,

and last but not least,

deciding I need a bladder lift during the run. . . Don't ask . . .

P.S. I think we are going to try to do another one in November in Casa Grande if any one wants to join us! It's only 400 m swim & its in a pool!

Spring Portraits

2010-05-08T21:40:00.001-07:00

I might be partial to them, but I think they are beautiful!

Eliza's Spring Break Road Trip

2010-05-08T21:06:00.001-07:00

When we lived in Chicago I dreamed of having a daughter to take to

the American Girl Place. Yeah! The day finally came!

Mom & I took Lindy & Eliza to L.A. for a little Spring Break Road Trip.

Lindy hadn't been to Disneyland since she was like 3, so we made a day of that as well.

Such a perfect 2 days of girls galore.

Pinetop

2010-02-22T21:05:00.000-08:00

For President's Day we went up to Pinetop for a little romp in the snow. Curtis took the boys skiing at Sunrise & we all did a little sledding, like old times in IL. We watched the olympics & pretended we were up at Whistler. I'll also include a few recent photos of our favorite little 4 month old Chunky Monkey and finish off with Isaac's 4th Birthday.

New Camera/ Holiday pictures

2010-02-22T19:59:00.000-08:00

I got a new Canon Rebel for Christmas! So much fun! I still don't know how to use it really well-- but at least I get lucky once in a while & end up with a good shot. Here are a few pics from our Holiday season. (Better late than never? Maybe that should be better never than this late!) Whatever. . . . It was fun to have most of the family here.

We all stayed up to welcome in 2010! Thanks to some very good company & fun games. :)

Just Can't Get Enough

2009-12-01T21:10:00.000-08:00

I'm eating him up. I snuggle my face in his neck & drink in that great baby smell. We snuggle a lot & I allow myself to feed on demand & hold him whenever he wants to be held! Babywise be damned. (That's scriptural language, not swearing.)

At the root of my desires is my fear that Luke is going to grow up too fast & I won't ever have this fundamental need met again in my life. I hate that he is changing so much everyday. Everyday, one step closer to independence & away from needing me.

"Mommies love babies," Curtis said the other day. We do. We all love them. I can't believe this is the end of this phase of my life. How quickly it comes and goes.

These photos are a precious gift to me from a good friend, Crystal who came to our house & took these pictures when Luke was just about 3 or 4 weeks old. I love them dearly because they capture Luke as a newborn, freezing him in time, which thing I cannot do in real life. Thanks a million Crystal!

Song for a Fifth Child

Mother, oh mother, come shake out your cloth
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek peekaboo).
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
And out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
but I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't his eyes the most wonderful hue?
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
For children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

By Ruth Hulburt Hamilton

Presenting... Luke Keller (middle name pending...)

2009-10-24T17:28:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of our sweet new little baby boy. He was born on Tuesday October 20th at 7:32pm & weighed 8 lbs 14 oz & was 21 inches long. The birth was perfect & I must say I enjoyed the epidural.

If you look closely you can see that he had 2 true knots in his cord, which means that he has already outdone Isaac who had one. (I hope this isn't a sign that he will be double the trouble?)

He is not lacking for attention & the kids all vie for their turn to hold him. Isaac thinks he is "his baby brother" as in "I own him completely" & he really tries to run the show around here.

Luke does look a lot like Isaac and has beautiful blond hair, but he has really dark eyes that look like Josh's did when he was born. We are all just totally crazy about him!

20 Year Reunion

2009-10-24T12:07:00.000-07:00

To My Hero

2009-10-12T14:44:00.000-07:00

Curtis & I just celebrated our 15th Anniversary a few weeks ago. I wanted to do this then, but I was just out of the hospital & barely functioning. I hope this is better late than never...

When we were in Scotland, I remember Curtis & Elder Cranney discussing how Sister Kerr had told them that her husband was her hero. You thought that was the ultimate compliment and I remember thinking that you were already my hero then.

But it did seem a bit premature to tell you at the time.

Besides, you were everybody's hero there. You were Clark Kent, Baptize Man & the Army General, the fearless Coastal Zone Leader & even the distinguished AP. You had the respect & admiration of all our mission & so it didn't seem to matter so much that I thought that you walked on water. It was more like just general knowledge.

But today I want you to know that you have been my hero every single day for the past 15 years!

I never stop being in awe of you. Everywhere we go, you are always the best looking man in the room. But that is only the tip of the iceburg. You are inside & out the most incredible person I know. I am still amazed that you love me.

Sept 22, 2009

I got out of the hospital (for my kidney stone) on the 21st. We went to dinner the next night.

I am always impressed that you work harder than anyone I have ever met. Most people know about your crazy schedule of getting up hours before the sun does. Try as I might, I cannot talk you out of that. Even on the weekends, you try to let me sleep in and often I get up to find you have already run 10 miles & are making breakfast for the family.

Although I will always wish you would get more sleep, I also really admire your dedication to get things done in the morning. You have never neglected studying the gospel or exercising. Just look at this perfect physique! And yet you have never ever criticized me for my lack of discipline.

In fact, you have always, always been patient with me. When I behave badly, you either just turn the other cheek or say something to make me laugh. You have a way of making me smile & feel happy every single day. When you walk in the door, we all light up & we know that life is brighter & our home is more fun & warm with you in it. I have always felt safe with you around & especially secure & at peace in your arms.

I think our kids are so lucky to have you for their dad. You are such a hands on parent. You are always ready to step in & change diapers, bathe the kids, put them to bed & sing to them. You coach them & help with their homework & wrestle with them. You have seamlessly taken over for me when I am sick. You have taught our kids the gospel & shared your testimony with them on a daily basis. You have taught them how to work & how to play, how to camp & love the Huskies. They all love and adore you & I love you for it.

I look at your strength and goodness everyday & it makes me want to be a better person. I feel like I won the lottery to be married to you! You put my needs & the needs of our kids above your own every single time. You are the most unselfish person I know. You have never complained about a dime I have spent. You have always provided for our needs. You compliment me on my cooking & build me up in every way.

Through dates and vacations or even just "tea time" you regularly whisk me away to our own little world where we can reconnect, and renew our love. You are my best friend & I cherish every year & day & minute that we get to spend together. Thanks for being my wonderful husband & ever my hero! I love you with all my heart Curtis!

Broken Hill the Movie

2009-09-11T15:58:00.000-07:00

http://www.brokenhillthemovie.com/

I have great news that I hope you will publish far & wide. My brother in law, Dagen Merrill, has directed an awesome, family friendly movie that just came out in theaters today called "Broken Hill". It is now showing Utah, Dallas, Fresno & Greenville, SC. On the 18th it opens in Orlando. Watch for more cities coming this fall.

This is a really good movie & even won best picture at a film festival in Italy. It's getting great reviews & you can watch the trailer at the website above. If you live in any of these areas or know people who do, please pass along the word to support this terrific film.

It was filmed in Australia & features Alexa Vega (best known as the girl in Spy Kids-- now grown up), academy award winning Timothy Hutton (Ordinary People), and debuts Luke Arnold who has been compared to a young Mel Gibson. Check out the link to the website above for more info. Thanks!

Where did that summer go?

2009-09-10T18:00:00.000-07:00

Even though the temperature is still 104, I guess the start of school always means the end of summer to me. 2009 was a great summer! Pretty hot being pregnant, but loaded with lots of great memories. Here are the the most significant events of summer 2009...

My brother Josh is a doctor (anesthesiolgist) in the army and he left in June for Iraq for 6 months! Before he left he fulfilled Curt's special request for a new army outfit, which is now what he wears ALL the time (see photo). The following pictures are of our annual camping trip, this time at Bear Canyon Lake. Josh & Ian tried their hand at fishing. On the way home we did a hike at Horton Creek (from Upper Tonto Creek) BEAUTIFUL! And then we visited Tonto Natural Bridge-- AMAZING! (Only open certain weekends now.) Both have great hikes that we want to go back to.

This was our visit to the circus at the G & K suite. Not the best photo, but a fun memory... if you like the circus...

We got to see a lot of old ladies drooling over Brent with his shirt off as he played the lead in Joseph & the Technicolor Dream Coat. It was fabulous!

Shelly Zimmerman is magical! She has taught almost all my kids to swim in a mere 8 days! Here is Isaac getting his turn at the torture treatment this year. Yes, he cried every single day. But he also swam like a fish all summer & loves it now.

Curt has his own version of summer torture. It's called-- "I will only take the kids to the lake at 4am because I am OCD & I hate crowds." (Consequently--- I've never been with them.) But the boys seem to love it & they are even getting pretty good at wake boarding. Here is Ian at Saguaro lake.

It was THRILLING to welcome home my parents & Lindy from Africa in June. They got back a few weeks early because Mom, our own little superhero, needed surgery on her elbow in the US. It has been SOOOOO nice having them back. Here are a couple of shots from our crazy welcome home at the airport.

We had a family reunion of sorts in July after Heidi, Ali, & Annie arrived with their families. We went up to the LeSueur's cabin in Pinetop for a couple days & played games, did puzzles & ate lots of good food etc. Curt & Dagen pulled through & drove up late at night to surprise us. Ahhhh.....

We all went to see WICKED together.

The "Girls Retreat" at the Desert Ridge Marriot where we enjoyed an afternoon at the spa, dinner out & the kids joined us for swimming the next day. Lots of fun!

At the end of July we fled the AZ heat, for some unusual Seattle heat! Great weather for boating on McCreadie's new boat! This was a perfect day! We cruised Lake Washington & Lake Union getting the tour of Mercer Island shores including Bill Gates home & views of UW stadium/campus.

Ian went to scout camp with Tyler for a week at Camp Parsons. Meanwhile, Josh & Curt hiked Mi Si a 4 mile hike starting at 700 feet & climbing to over 4000 feet. This is the view from the top, where they also saw a mountain goat.

We stayed with Sue this time & the cousins had lots of fun. Here's Isaac & Mark playing superheroes defend the universe.

The latest Keller family photo, minus Scott who picked up a little super bug working in the ER & Keith who is still on his mission. Note: Tyler, who is 14, is now taller than Curt at 6'4-- watch out NBA. There are currently 20 grandkids & our baby next month will probably top things off at 21.

Curt's siblings: Steve, Sarah, Sue & Curt. Curt's sister Sarah is now in SLC (with Carol) undergoing treatment at the Huntsman Cancer Center for Multiple Myeloma-- which is a cancer of the plasma which settles in the bones. Her treatment right now includes intense chemo & 2 tandem stem cell transplants. Our hearts & souls have been completely wrapped up in this experience since her diagnosis in June. Her doctors at Huntsman seem to be some of the best in the world in this specialty & we are praying for complete regression now & hopefully even a cure. We love you Sarah!

This was another perfect day at the river (Note to self: at exit 38 turn right park by Olallie State Park ranger station). Wow! Every summer we seem to find a new favorite spot to visit in WA! This place is magical on a hot day in the 90's-- the mountain water is ice cold, but felt sooo good. It has a nice shady shore, wading for the little ones, a huge rock island in the middle & a deep pool for swimming/jumping on the other side. We heard that up the river a bit they even discovered some falls & really great deep diving spots. We'll have to check that out next year.

Mark, Isaac & Dallin inching across the log-- a kodak moment for the 3 cousins.

Josh in the middle of the blueberry patch. This was a hot, humid morning which made Eliza say, "This is just as hot as AZ!" Well not quite, but it was extra sweaty getting the berries this year!

Now we are back home & the kids are in school. Josh & Eliza started at ALA, a new charter school just about a mile away. They can ride their bikes to school now. Here are Eliza & Lindy in one of their matching uniforms. They are having a lot of fun together & like to spend the night on the weekends. Ian started 8th grade & stayed at Ben Franklin for one more year. Josh is in 5th & Eliza in 2nd grade.

I'm doing a home co-op preschool for Isaac with a few friends from the ward. We are counting down just about 6 more weeks til my due date-- October 22. This will be my first hospital birth! I'm nervous, which seems funny, I know. But, I hope I can "do my thing" there. I was kind of hoping this was my big chance for an epidural, but Dr. Holmes says they discourage that for people on heparin. So they have a water tub room & I'm planning on using it. I'm pulling for "Luke" & Curt likes "Levi." Any thoughts on a name for this little guy?

Welcome Summer!

2009-05-21T19:25:00.000-07:00

It couldn't have been a nicer day! Last day of school excitement is in the air.

5:30 I got up and walked in the cool morning air. (Maybe the last time I wake up that early for months to come.)

10:30 Isaac played at Carter's house. Thrilling for him.

12:00 I picked up the kids after school who all got to bring a friend home. We had Frozen Pizza for lunch & then went swimming.

2:00 I got to take a nap with Isaac.

4:30 Ian & Curtis went to the temple to do baptisms.

6:00 The kids & Grandma & I had white bean chilli & ate on the porch & it started to rain! Hallelujah! It's been a very nice overcast day, maybe about 80 degrees (a welcome break from the 107's of earlier this week.) Isaac came & asked for his jacket & boots & told me it was raining on his head. Eliza & Beckie have been in their swimming suits all day. Welcome summer. We all had those icecream cones that are dipped in chocolate & nuts & the kids played on the swingset.

7:30 Now the girls are taking a warm bath in my big tub. The boys are playing dress up clothes. Isaac makes a cute evil Zurg!

2 More Stories about Josh:

The other day Josh was complaining that he needed a new toothbrush & I asked if he could wait til he went to the dentist next week. He said that his electric one had broken, for a couple weeks. I asked, "Do you mean to tell me that you haven't been brushing your teeth for weeks?"

Pretty much.

Unbelievable.

This boy has also been caught wearing the same shirt to school for like a week. (Where is his mother? and why would she not notice something like that?) When it was finally brought to my attention by his brother I asked Josh why he was wearing the same shirt. He said that he didn't have any other clean shirts in his drawer.

That's because he never bothered to unload his basket of clean laundry that somehow was just shoved away in his closet.

Gotta love 10 year olds boys because they really just don't care about those kinds of details, unlike 13 year olds boys, who really do care.

I'm also happy to report that I started feeling the baby move yesterday while I was sitting on my bed working on my RS lesson. What a wonderful & happy moment for me. I have made it to 18 weeks now & get an ultrasound a week from today. Exciting.

42 days til Mom & Dad come home. Yippee!

Loving this summer already.

April Adventures

2009-05-03T16:12:00.000-07:00

A cute girl named Sarah left me a comment. Not knowing who she was, I checked out her blog-- darling. She had a quote on there that I would like to steal. "Do not trust your memory, it is a net full of holes; the most beautiful prizes slip through it." George Duhamel

Love it. That is what makes me want to blog. These days are gold. I know that. Every little piece & puzzle of my life is just priceless right now. I wish I could video tape the whole thing & play it back when I am old, just for laughs. Anyway, I rarely feel that I can break away, even to record these memories, but I fear that if I don't, they will just slip away from me & I can't bear that either. So here are a few of my favorites this month.

This is our new favorite "farm" breakfast. Curt makes these whole wheat, brown sugar pancakes from fresh ground whole wheat in the vita mix blender. They are spectacular! Then the kids make a sandwhich of sorts with our fresh eggs from our chickens & either sausage or bacon (to balance out the healthiness of it) & smother it in syrup &, get this. . . ketchup!

This was our version of organic style colored easter eggs this year. We also just got a shipment of 42 new baby chicks last week, that I, yes I, had to go & pick up at the post office. They called & said, "We have birds for you." Fortunately, most of them were for our neighbors. I don't know why we are even keeping 5 when we are not even eating the 8 eggs a day we get right now. When I ask Curt why we need more he says, because in a year a chicken is going to cost $3000 & you will be glad for those eggs. Who knows, maybe so.

Isaac has his own red Cars boots, but he seems to prefer Eliza's pink Hello Kitty ones. He did pick them out. I think they really complete this army shorts/no shirt look don't you? (Not to be outdone, Jackson decides to show off his abs too.)

The Bobbsey twins have tea party on the porch. Isaac loved to pour the milk from that little pitcher, so much that his cup runneth over.

Followed by a dip in "the pool".

Isaac plays hard these days, running with "the pack" on the street. We rotate houses every couple hours. He also insists on talking on the phone to whoever you are talking to. He likes to have "spikey hair." (Should I be worried that he already cares about this?) Sometimes he likes to crash hard too. Like pregnant ladies, 3 years olds can also sleep anywhere.
It's official. We have a teenager. With a gun. Ok, an airsoft gun-- which is like a mild BB gun, but, man that thing says terrorist to me. Ian turned 13 & this is all he wanted. Great excuse for another Texas Sheet cake. :)

The next day, April 15th, Curtis & I supported our local tea parties. I went to the Gilbert one with more than 1000 people & Curtis went to the Phoenix one with maybe 10,000 people. Not gigantic, but I think that for every person that was there, there are 100 more who would like to have gone too.

Curt has been gone the past 3 weekends-- all for a good cause, I guess.

Weekend #1: He flew to Utah with 4 good friends from his firm to run in the SLC marathon. He got a personal best at 3:51 & I'm proud of him. He however is mad that he didn't get in the 3:40's due to a huge new hill they added at the end, and an upset stomach from uncooked pasta the night before. Will I support him running the St. George in October? No thanks. He tried that once, & it's miserable to train in the summer. Plus I've got other plans for October.

Week #2: He took the boys on the Fathers & Sons outing. (No pictures.) Isaac has been promised he can go next year.

Week #3: Curtis & I went to Dr. Holmes for my checkup. All looking good at week 14/15. Then he took me to America's Taco shop for lunch. Funny name, but "America" is from Mexico & she makes a great carne asada.

Then I took Curt to the airport where he flew to Seattle to attend Michael's wedding-- our oldest nephew. He married a darling 24 year old RM named Minta. I wish I could have been there. Congratulations Michael & Minta!

Sarah with Ward & Carol.

Beautiful sunny day in Seattle! Spectacular blossoms!

I love this one. Curt tells me that Ward picked up a block of cheese off the cheese platter (you were supposed to cut off a piece of cheese). He's a cheese man.

Other than that, May is now here & the countdowns are on. Primarily for my parents to get home! 64 days? No way! Also, for school to get out. 14 more days of school. Excitement is in the air!

I'm also biding my time to get past the dreaded 16 week mark. But I'm feeling good. I've been on Lovenox for about 3 weeks now. Getting used to sticking myself with a needle in the belly everyday. I've been walking 2 miles at 5:30 in the morning with Autumn & my friend Stacey. Beautiful mornings right now. As you can see, I also fall asleep anywhere. We sat down to have FHE a couple weeks ago & I was out cold. I woke up & Curtis had done the lesson & taken all the kids to the Dollar Store to pick out a prize & to Fresh & Easy to pick a dessert. Their picks were varied, from cheesecake to Dole pine-orange-strawberry juice. Great times. Great dad.

The Marvelous McCreadies

2009-05-03T15:38:00.001-07:00

The highlight of our lives is when the McCreadie's come to visit. It's like Christmas! (But it was Easter-- close enough.) Our kids go bananas & Curt & I REJOICE. We spent 10 wonderful days with them in the beginning of April. Here are some of our fun filled memories.

We watched general conference together the first weekend. We mostly stayed awake, but Sunday afternoon found me looking a little like this....

The adults went out on Saturday night to The Keg & had a great time. On Monday the McCreadie's spent a couple hours cleaning up our boat! Those kids sure know how to work & do it without complaint. Amazing. Then, thanks to the Gwilliams we were able to get passes to the Seville Country Club pool & we swam it up for the next few days.. Sue & I were baffled by the bikini model we encountered there. (No pictures of that unfortunately-- or should I say fortunately?) They also took in a couple of games downtown.

On Thursday we left the valley & headed up to Sedona to hike our favorite West Fork Trail in Oak Creek Canyon. We were not overly ambitious that day as Curt had hurt his back again, but we spent a good long while at the "slide rock" spot. We met some nice people (also from WA) who were looking for their kids. They finally found them & after talking for 15 minutes they asked Scott to take off his sunglasses & identified him as the ER doctor who had treated their son in the hospital just a couple weeks prior. Small world.

Ian really got the concept of slide rock when he slipped and fell in the water. Here are the kids drying out on the rocks.

Pregnant women can sleep anywhere can't they?

After the hike we went to DQ-- (tradition) & then drove on to Flagstaff to spend the night at the Drury Inn. Lovely place. Scott & the kids swam. We ate dinner at Granny's Closet which was just perfect for our small group of 13. Great salad bar & we nearly had the place to ourselves. In the morning we probably had the best free hotel breakfast on the planet.

Day 2 we drove up to the Grand Canyon. So many miles of trails, so little time. Or you could say, so many tired little kids, so little strollers-- dang it! (Other than our incredible trip to Havasupai as Laurels, I had not been there since I was about Eliza's age. My favorite memory of that trip being the little bag of shiny polished rocks I got as a souvenir. And a picture of me in a pretty cool periwinkle poncho.)

I think we would make a really nice blended family if we ever decided to just move in together. 2 moms, 2 dads, 3 girls & 6 boys. The offer stands.

Isaac's favorite part of the day was riding the bus between scenic lookouts. We wondered if we could just pay the driver to keep him & Markus on the bus all day.

Markus actually fell asleep standing up on the bus. That's a sign that it's time to leave.

We made it home at 10:30 that night, after nearly hitting a huge deer outside Flagstaff. The next day we had an egg hunt in the house because it was raining. I think the rain helped Sue & Scott to feel better about leaving. Although it didn't help us much, because we still miss them every day.

2009 was the year. . .

2009-03-25T19:26:00.000-07:00

. . . that I gave up blogging? Almost.

I haven't felt much like blogging these last couple months. I was almost resigned to let it go. But today I started thinking of all the great things that I want to remember about this beautiful spring & it inspired me to post about a few of them before they just melt away as a blur of springs past.

We celebrated Grandma's 89th Birthday in January. I learned to do Grandma's hair which is kind of fun. I wish I could do my hair every 10 days.

Josh turned 10! Here he is blowing out candles on his own banana split.

I started the year off by making hundreds of calls for the John Lewis for Mayor campaign. (This is Annie's father in law-- Doug's parents.) I am still very impassioned about it but I'm happy to report that he came out with 41% in the primary to the next guys 20%. I think we are going to make it! May 19th is the run off election. Here are the Lewis' at a cottage evening at our house that was attended by 50 people!

Eliza finally made the cut offs & was allowed to join the other husky fans at her 1st Washington game of basketball.

Joshua grew some lovely little wildflowers in my kitchen windowsill. I loved watching these seeds sprout & finally bloom. Don't you think they look very nice & cheery here with my retro curtains?

Eliza made this cute sign & posted it on her bedroom door. Nice reminder for us all.

Isaac turned 3 & I made a TX sheet cake. (I pretty much ate most of it myself, & if you look closely you can see that I had already started on one corner of it before we even got the candles on.) He got one present I think, but it was really all he wanted. A new battery powered spiderman quad. Actually, he'd rather have the $300 John Deer tractor model, but we settled for this $50 version with a year warranty.

Giving a ride to Lindsay, his best friend, on the new wheels.

Joyous times when Curt's parents came to visit us for a couple weeks! We had lots of nice meals at our new patio table & even some Mexican Train! Carol got a nasty cold that we tried to cure with fresh squeezed OJ & chicken soup. They took the whole family bowling one day & they really blew us all away now that they are serious bowlers.

Ward really enjoyed the AZ sunshine after lots of rain & flooding in North Bend this year.

Ward came with me to the zoo and we met Eliza's class field trip there. We pet the sting rays & grandpa treated the kids to a camel ride! What fun!

Last week was spring break & the weather was so nice we decided to camp right here in Emily & Brent's new back yard! Lovely! We had tin foil dinners (cooked in the oven) & then had a bonfire & made s'mores. (I think I have actually grown to like those more over the years-- isn't that funny?) By the way that's IBC Rootbeer in my hand-- I know what you are thinking.

The next day Curtis made his famous breakfast burritos & then we went hiking up in Gold Canyon on the Hieroglyphics trail. The flowers were beautiful, the view spectacular, & the water refreshing at the top.

Eliza turned 7 on Sunday. I made a strawberry jello cake with whipped cream & strawberries. She wanted hers with purple frosting instead. Whatever. I look at myself in this picture & just think of mom.

Eliza got a new doll for her birthday. Isabel has one too. She named her name Annie. Ahhhhh. She is about the size of a newborn & can wear newborn clothes and diapers. We went shopping for a few new outfits for her. She also is using some of the baby clothes that she wore when she was newborn. Eliza likes to change her clothes every morning & seven times a day. She feeds her at the table in her doll highchair. She sleeps with her in the cradle next to her bed. She carries her everywhere. I think it's filling a need. Maybe for both of us.

2008 was the year. . . .

2008-12-30T08:44:00.000-08:00

Warning: This post is mostly for my own amusement & memory-- In other words you probably won't find it remotely interesting-- feel free to skip it. :) Since I've only just started blogging & have been quite sparse this is my attempt to document 2008. This was a big year, full of good & bad, some big & some small, but I want to remember all of it. You know how Grandma & Grandpa say things like "That was in 1952." I always wonder how they do that. Maybe this will help me.

Anyway. . . 2008 was the year that:

*We discovered "Lost" in January at my in-laws and watched all 3 seasons of it on DVD to catch up.

*Josh turned 9 in January.

*Isaac turned 2 in February.

*Eliza turned 6 in March.

*Ian turned 12 in April!

*Sue & Scott came to visit us in Feb. What joy!

*I had my 3rd miscarriage in March at 16 weeks & delivered the baby at 19 weeks. That was the 6th baby boy that we conceived! Discovered I had a homozygous mutation of the MTHFR gene. (long story)

*Ian became a Deacon in April.

*Curtis became a High Priest in May & was put in the bishopric.

*His parents came down so his dad could set him apart.

*Ian & Josh played basketball & then flag football & then did swim team & then Ian did Pop Warner & Josh did soccer. (Whew! That's one solid year of sports!)

*Eliza did dance & gymnastics.

*Ali & Dagen spent the spring in Australia filming a movie.

*Ali did a triathalon.

*Annie & Doug spent the summer in AZ before heading off to TX for Doug to go to medical school at Baylor. Annie & other angels saved Callin from drowning.

*Zach graduated from nursing school. They moved into mom & dad's house & rented their own home to pay off student loans.

*In May we went with the Gwilliams to their beach house in Rosarito, Mexico. A blast!

*In June Ian & Aimee went on our stake Pioneer trek up near Greer. Had a wonderful time! Got super dirty.

*In July we spent 3 weeks in Seattle. Heaven. I read Gone with the Wind.

*Heidi came for a visit. So great to see them.

*Josh graduated from medical school & they moved to Georgia.

*Brent started his own country band, "Slade," and we girls joined Emily as groupies.

*Steve & Laura sent Keith on his mission to Minnesota.

*Nathan started a new job, but he & Sarah are still in WY.

*Scott had a heart scare & lost tons of weigh. Sue had a throat scare & surgery & got a bad virus & lost tons of weight. Sue also lost something else very important, but found it. :)

*Mom & Dad entered their 3rd and final year as mission presidents in Mozambique. We started to count down the months. Just 6 more now!

*In July, Curt (& several other attorneys) switched back to their old firm-- Gallagher & Kennedy & Curt became a partner.

*The real estate market went haywire and the stock market followed resulting in a recession.

*Ian started Jr. High & developed a "cool" attitude which I have been trying to cure.

*In September, Michael Hess, who was one of Curt's priests when we lived in Illinois, passed away following a car accident. His dad, Scott is one of Curt's best friends & Curtis flew to Utah to speak at the funeral. They are an amazing and strong family.

*Also in September we celebrated our 14th anniversary, coincidentally on the same weekend G&K was having a retreat in Laguna Beach. We enjoyed ourselves at the Montage, a 5 star resort & even got to see our friends the Cranneys.

*We went with our dear friends the Mortensens to their cabin in Show Low. I clogged their toilet & we had to buy a plunger. Nice. Incidentally, if we are talking waking hours, Eliza probably spent more time at their house this year than she did at ours. No joke.

*In September Heidi's brother Christian & his wife Stephanie were in a plane crash. They survived but were badly burned. I became engrossed in their story & started to read Stephanie's blog & also her sister's-- cjanerun.blogspot.com. Gladly they are both recovering well, but we continue to pray for them everyday.

*Autumn & Jamie & I started a dinner group. I cook for us all on Mondays, Autumn cooks on Tuesdays & Jamie cooks on Wednesdays. They are both great cooks & I love the variety & days off in the kitchen.

*Grandma came down to stay with us for awhile. Then she went to San Jose for Thanksgiving & didn't come back. :) (JK She's coming back when we get home)

*In November I went to DC to visit Kimberly. It was the week before the election.

*Barack Obama was elected to be the next president of the United States! I didn't vote for him, but it was kind of cool to witness such a historic moment.

*Wendy Whitacre took our family pictures.

*I tried to be faithful to Calli's aerobics class. I did my best.

*Grandpa Rob came for Thanksgiving & we had it at Emily's.

*After 3 years, I got released from being the stake cub scout guru when our stake primary presidency was dissolved at stake conference. I loved it & will miss working with those great people. Despite my request to be the nursery music coordinator, I just got called to teach RS. Scary.

*Just 5 days before Christmas the Greenes (a family in our ward who live just north of us) had their house burn down. The next day in the space of 4 hours our ward cleaned, furnished & decorated a rental home for them to move into. People brought furniture, bedding, household goods & food to stock the pantry & fridge. It was a tragedy for sure, but also a beautiful chance for our ward to pull together.

*On Christmas day the boys played video games & the girls worked on a 1500 piece puzzle. For about 5 hours. New tradition?

*We also surprised our kids with a trip to Seattle. We left on the 26th & we are us at Ward & Carol's enjoying the 3 feet of snow that they just got! Curt took the boys & their cousins skiing yesterday. It's so fun to be here in this winter wonderland!

A Few of My Favorite Things

2008-12-24T04:40:00.000-08:00

It's Christmas Eve 5 am & I can't sleep already--I'm already so excited & keyed up about it all, so I thought I'd post a few of my favorite things about my kids. I love their everyday "funnyness."

Ian: Here he is on a snow campout last weekend. (Can you think of anything more miserable. I'm not sure I can.) The boys have started their usual tactics to negotiate a time to wake up on Christmas morning. We said 7, they said 6:30. Then last night he sent me this email:

6:45 PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PPPPPPPPLLLLLLLLLEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAASSSSSSEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! X10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

OR ELSE

Josh: the serious student. (Insert picture of him in his new glasses.) He has the craziest language homework. (I've even been in to talk to the principle about it, but that is another story.) Usually it will say something like this: Compose a complex sentence with the spelling word "attorney" that contains a prepositional phrase and an adverb and an adjective and a proper noun and supercalifragilisticexpealidocious. Anyway sometimes it leads you to come up with some pretty funny sentences just to fit the criteria. But you've got to love this one, especially if you are Curtis, that he came up with for his homework last week:

"Go under your bed because the attorney is coming."

Eliza: Here she is reading to Isaac. The other day while driving her and her 4 little girlfriends to gymnastics I overheard the following conversation about one of the girls' moms who did in vitro.

"She had to get a baby put in her tummy."

"Why?"

"Well I guess there was a baby and it needed someplace to be put. So they put it in her tummy."

"Everybody has babies in their tummy."

"No not everyone."

"Well, not kids or babies, just grownups. All grownups have babies in their tummies."

Eliza, "Not my mom. She doesn't have a baby in her tummy."

Isaac: Yesterday Ian & Josh & their friends were out having an airsoft gun war in the dirt hills. He was not to be left out. He got on these snow boots (in our case "mudboots") and found an old gun downstairs. He pushed the highchair to the door and climbed up on it so he could undo the high latch I installed to keep him inside and headed out the garage to join the army.

I know he may look harmless, but he has a quite a serious record of cleptomania. It's really only one thing that he steals. Keys. Make that 2. Keys and candy. Here is a picture of the contents of his pocket after spending a little time at Autumn's.

If you can't tell those are the keys to their riding lawn mower. We have moved the hiding place of our lawn mower keys at least 10 times and he always finds them. It's uncanny how he does this. You can only wonder what this means for his future life. . . .

Keller's Kodak Moments

2008-12-10T13:17:00.000-08:00

The truth is sometimes those Kodak moments are just a little painful to come by. Anyway, everyone survived and I think that Wendy did a great job capturing the light in my children's eyes. I particularly like the one of Curt & Eliza which reminds me a little of a picture of me & my dad walking together in Hobble Creek Canyon. These kids are so precious to me-- as is my very handsome hubby. I have been thinking today that I am so incredibly blessed to have such a wonderful family, both the family that I come from & the family that God has now blessed me with. They fill our home with joy & love and that is everything that is good in the world to me.

Grandma's Moves In & Other Random Events

2008-12-10T11:51:00.001-08:00

So I guess I can't change my wallpaper to a Christmas theme, if my last post is from Halloween. It's just that I'm finding that I'm much more a blog READER than a blog WRITER. I just can't think of much to report, but here are a few of the random things that have been happening in our lives recently...

This is my darling soon to be 89 year old Grandma--Prudence "Donna" Packard. Even though she goes by Donna,-- Prudence fits her so well. She is the queen of "use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without."

I think I have a little bit of that in me as well--don't you think I am a bit of an old soul? However, I have also come to realize that I have a long way to go to be up to Grandma's standard. (Main lesson: don't even think about trying to clean out the fridge when she is around.)

We are so happy that she gets to spend part of the winter with us. It has been interesting to learn more about her life from hearing her stories. Also, despite my protests, she is such a big help to me. She takes her morning walk every morning with Isaac on his big wheel leading the way. She rarely lets a dish sit in the sink for more than 3 seconds. Right now she is in San Jose spending the holidays with her son and I am finding it is much harder to keep up with the laundry & kitchen without her! Plus I have no idea what's going on on The Young and the Restless, which she watches everyday at 11:00. :)

As if we don't have enough commotion in our house in the morning. . . here is a scene in front of my house recently at about 5:45 am. We were rudely awoken at that crazy hour by all our fire alarms going off. They are SUPER LOUD! I didn't smell smoke, but I couldn't turn them off either. What could I do? I had to call the fire department. They came (& saw me in my bathrobe--lovely!) and determined... that they had no idea why they went off...dust might have triggered them?

I'm just including this picture because Curt loves it. It's a slice of life in our kitchen. Isaac is just laying on the bar watching Josh make his own egg salad sandwich (which his Grandma Keller taught him how to do-- Thank you very much Carol!)

These would be the eggs that he has just hard boiled & yes they are from our chickens! Hooray! I have stopped buying eggs for the most part.

This would be the sand that finally replaced the weeds as groundcover in our playground. Yeay! Even Ian likes to spend a lot of time out there. I think there must be something therapeutic about sand, or maybe he is just trying to avoid practicing the piano.... But there is definitely something magnetic about the sand that makes it stick to my children & come inside my house (in pockets, shoes, dumptrucks etc.) I do however think it's a worthwhile price to pay to get the kids to play outside. And that water is not a lake, but simply flood irrigation which is how we water our backyard every two weeks. Are you getting the picture? Dogs & kids & sand & water and dirty kitchen floors. But my mom did it somehow & I don't remember her complaining. (Well maybe just occasionally. :)

Well, I'm going back to gearing up for Christmas. I need to get wrapping! Merry Christmas everyone-- chances are you won't hear from me again on the blog until 2009!

Happy Retro Halloween

2008-11-08T06:28:00.000-08:00

Do these costumes look familiar anyone? I feel very lucky that I was at Mom's house when she was cleaning out the attic & I got to inherit lots of gems like these from her costume box. I told the kids this year that we weren't buying halloween costumes-- we have so many to choose from already. They did ok I think.

Isaac started out as a dog, but it was a little too small, so he ended up as the clown. Ian didn't want to dress up at all, but I told him if he was too old to dress up, he was too old to trick or treat. He went as Curtis in high school-- notice the mullet. He brought home a mere 11 pounds of candy, that will now serve our family as movie candy for the next year or until it gets stale.

Here is us pumpkin carving. We ate fresh pumpkin for the first time this year (not these). But it isn't too bad-- a little like spagetti squash. I'm also loving butternut squash. I discovered that you can microwave it so easily. Just poke holes in the squash (leave it whole) and microwave it for about 10 minutes. If it isn't really tender, do one minute more at a time. Then cut it in half and scoop out the seeds & discard. Scoop out the flesh & mash it with a little butter, salt & pepper and a couple spoonfuls of cream (or milk). Wow! So easy & yummy.

DC in Election Season

2008-11-01T16:43:00.000-07:00

At the FDR Memorial.

Kimberly and her friends are working hard for the cause

Eating chowder at the "Tackle Box" in Georgetown

This is taken from the FDR memorial. Loved the fall colors there.

This is Kimberly's street, Q Street, right in front of her house.

Last weekend I went to visit one of my oldest friends, well she's not old-- in fact she is 10 days younger than me, something she is now very proud of. But our friendship is old. We just turned 37 and we have been friends for at least 23 years. I think having lived apart for many years now, we are still very surprised that we ever became friends, back in Jr. High & High school. Some things were easier then. We just took Ferris days from school & drove around everywhere in her 69 cream VW beetle. Kim knew a lot about the world and good music and good food and good times. I knew a lot about the gospel of Jesus Christ. So we shared what we knew & both ended up the wiser I think. Now Kimberly lives in DC and she knows everything about the world and the government & politics. I'm still just a country girl, living in Gilbert and I am only an expert on a couple things, like changing diapers and Cub scouting. It might be harder to share what we know now. We still go together about as well as oil and water, Obama & McCain.... or should I say gasoline and matches. As usual, we didn't see eye to eye on everything, in fact, maybe only 3 or 4 things, but I am still glad to see the world through the lense of my "most ethnic" friend.

We had a fun bike ride on the Mount Vernon trail, but it was cut short by the rain, and perhaps partly by my inexperience :) We really got poured on several times on Saturday. We did some driving/walking tours, and some shopping. We ate at Potbelly's-- which I have dearly missed since our chicago days. I loved going to her ward on Sunday and meeting some of her friends. What an amazing place to live. I also loved seeing Kimberly's new fabulous house! She has done a terrific job & has a great garden in back as well. She also introduced me to my favorite new breakfast-- plain yogurt, grape nuts, frozen berries & maple syrup-- delish! Thanks again Kimberly.

Sedona Trip

2008-10-13T20:31:00.000-07:00

The kids have fall break this week. We talked Curtis into taking Columbus Day off for our 2nd annual hike up the West Fork Trail of Oak Creek Canyon in Sedona. This is one of my favorite hikes ever. It was a beautiful fall day & we really had a wonderful time. Isaac spent most of the time in the pack on Curt's back, but he was fearless when we turned him loose. We are a hiking family!

We crossed Oak Creek about 15 times on the trail.

My 10 Rules

2008-10-03T13:45:00.000-07:00

Do Mom's have rules? Unstructured people like me (unlike people like Clark Kent) sometimes try to make rules for themselves, in some kind of desperate attempt to obtain more order in their lives. (Thinking, if it's a RULE then maybe I will actually DO it?)

I was just trying to clean off my desk & wading through my mounds of paperwork. (And if you know me, you already know how much I HATE PAPERWORK and therefore you can see how I would jump at the chance to blog my way out of this job.) (By the way we DO have a rule in our house that we never say we HATE anything, but I DO HATE paperwork, so there goes that rule-- out the window.)

Anyway, as I was throwing away papers, I found a list of Rules (that I made for myself) that I had scribled on the back cardboard part of my trusty yellow legal pad which contains all my to-do lists--(thank you Ward). I know I was thinking that the cardboard part was a "safe" place to put these rules. :)

RULES

1) Exercise 3x's a week (I am doing ok on this right now, but I must have made this a rule because of my tendency at times to take a short break from exercise-- like 6 months off)

2) Do jobs on the right day before 3pm
This means that Monday is laundry, Tues is house cleaning, Wed. is shopping & Thursday is paperwork & Friday is catch up. Now I confess, I'm not sure if those are the right days, because

a. I can't find the notebook that tells me what day is what and

b. I change them everyweek anyway, and

c. no matter what I never, ever seem to fit in the day for paperwork. I have actually managed to skip it for like a month now. (The before 3pm is because after my kids get home from school nothing gets done, since I am just in "putting out fires" & "driving my taxi" mode.)

3) Prepare dinner (or as much as I can) in the morning. I like this rule & try to keep to it if possible. But a new rule, or maybe a byline of this is "Just eat leftovers as often as we can" which also makes me eat less because I don't really care about leftovers.

4) Read Ensign or scriptures every day.

5) Clean Kitchen and Family Room before going to bed, so I can start fresh tomorrow. (This one comes from my wonderful mother who was always so good at this. I am improving in this area, but still need work.)

6) Bathe my children (at least) on Tues. Thurs & Sat. nights. Noel taught me this. Thanks Noel! That way, I don't fall into that confusion over "How long has it been since you last had a bath?" and the kids are at least pretty clean for church on Sunday. (By the way, in the summer, a late afternoon swim counts as a bath! Bonus!)

7) Monthly Food Calendar-- (I confess I don't even know what this is? What was I thinking? Let's just change it to weekly menu, shall we? That is even a stretch, but more doable.)

8) Paperwork and Budget Report every Tuesday-- Oh! I guess Tuesday was supposed to be my paperwork day-- but I had to change that all around so I would go to aerobics. At any rate, I AM trying to do this, but like I said, that is what I am supposed to be doing right at this moment.... so I guess this still needs improvement.

9) Fast Sunday-- make it a day of rest, prayer, reading & journal writing. This is my excuse for not having anyone to dinner on that one Sunday a month, which Curtis, being born of goodly parents, would like us to do at least 4 nights a week.

10) Read with Eliza every day. (I had to make that a rule, because unlike with Ian & Josh, I just keep letting it slip through the cracks & she needs to catch up. I was relieved when I found out that her teacher requires her to read 10 minutes for homework every night so we are doing just fine now.)

I think I might have to add one more: No blogging until my paperwork is done!

Do you have any good rules to share? :)

I'm 7 years older than G & K...

2008-09-28T13:00:00.003-07:00

These tide pools are full of fun anemones & sea life.

Shopping in London.... oops, I mean Laguna

Going to the firm's big banquet dinner at the resort

The view from our room's balcony

The Montage

This beach here is so cool. I love this natural arch.

Gallagher & Kennedy turned 30 & they took us all to Laguna Beach to celebrate at the 5 star resort "Montage." It was Spectacular! We almost didn't go because Clark Kent (CK) thought he was too busy at work & also wanted to go camping with Ian's scout troop (on my birthday!-- what?) So I cancelled the tickets, but then his mom called him up and helped him see the light! Hooray for Carol! We had a wonderful time walking the town, combing the tide pools, eating FAB food, swimming & enjoying our luxurious room complete with plush robes, slippers & 17 different bath potions. CK works witht the coolest people & I love their wives! One night we ate at Cafe Zoolu which boasts the best swordfish on the planet (says Zagat) and the worst waitress (says us). We called her the Swordfish Nazi, but dinner was worth it.

(Note to self--who has the worst memory I know--) Things I want to remember: sharing Nacho's & reading Goose Girl while Superman works, seeing Kevin & Karsen Cranney & their beautiful girls for a few hours of beach & swimming, eating lunch at the Greek Aegean Cafe, the lemongrass lotion in our room, meeting Dana Reynolds at dinner & talking religion (she's Jewish & married to a Catholic), the fresh granola, yogurt & berries for breakfast, and flying home with Beth Broadfoot who has airplane fears combined with a healthy sense of superstition and has worn the same exact outfit (including underwear) each & every time she has flown for the past 18 years. (Lucky for her I think those stirrup pants are coming back in style!) Best of all, getting 2 full days & nights with the best husband in the world!

My Favorite Chicken Farmers

2008-09-28T12:43:00.000-07:00

One day while Ali was here, we were getting ready to go somewhere, but we couldn't find Isaac & JoJo so we all went looking. Here is where we finally found them! . . . If you can't tell from the picture, they are inside the chicken coop.

How do YOU spell Show Low?

2008-09-28T12:09:00.000-07:00

Beckie & Eliza, such cute friends

This is Lindsay on the end, she's just older than Isaac

Josh did indeed take a little flack over the pink gear, but he took it like a man!

We were planning our annual family camping trip for labor day weekend this year. But still fresh in our minds was last years trip when on day 2 (luckily) a massive rain storm rolled in and we packed up as fast as we could and got a little (ok-- quite a lot) drenched as we high-tailed it out of there. So this year I checked the forcast as the day approached which called for. . . (you guessed it) thundershowers! We were thinking to just skip it, when Autumn suggested we go along with them to their cabin in Show Low. We happily accepted and had a blast walking around the nearby lake & riding quads through the mountains.

While we were at Dairy Queen on Friday night, Curt asked me how you spell Show Low. You don't know how to spell Show Low I said! (Kind of like how we all like to make fun of him for saying Rocky POINT!) But then I started to wonder, was it Showlo? Sholow? Anyway, I told him it was Showlow... one word, but later realized it's 2. Now you know...

Summer Vacation

2008-08-19T16:22:00.000-07:00

Wow! What am I thinking--attempting to enter the blogging world? Annie was kind enough to set up this page for me-- so here I go! Our summer started off with Ian & I going on the Pioneer Trek. We came home with about a ton of dirt (on our clothes & bodies) & lots of wonderful memories!

Then we went with a family in our ward, Brad & Jo Gwilliam, to their beach house in Mexico for 4 days. It is in Rosarito Beach which is south of Tiajuana. They also have 3 boys and a girl with their oldest being Josh's age and in his class at school & their youngest being Isaac's age & in his nursery. The boys had a terrific time learning how to surf & we all had a wonderful time relaxing & being at the beach.

The only thing I'm not getting here how to put the pictures where I want them to be. They keep going in strange places and I don't know how to move them. Anyway, I guess you get "the picture," right?

Then we had a great trip to Washington. Ian flew up a few days early so that he could go to scout camp for a week with Tyler. He loved it and earned 6 merit badges. We had a nice trip this year. I read Gone with the Wind for my book club-- Sheri's recommendation. I enjoyed it. We also went up to Whistler, Canada for 4 days. We had a blast swimming & biking & riding the alpine slide etc with the kids. We stayed with Ward and Carol in their time share condo but Steve & Laura & Scott & Sue and their families came up too. They are preparing for the 2010 Olympics up there & we got our picture at the top of the mountain in front of the stone "Olympic symbol man" for the games.

Now we are home and the kids are back in school & we are just getting into our fall schedule which includes, my aerobics class 3 mornings a week (I'm back! and very SORE today!,) Ian playing pop warner football, Curt coaching Josh's soccer team, both boys doing piano & scouts, Eliza doing gymnastics and ballet/tap & me & Isaac home all day together. We love (almost) every minute of it. Ian is in Jr. High & has entered a whole new world-- even though he is still at the same school. He loves it. Josh is in 4th grade & has lots of good friends in his class. Eliza is in 1st grade and her teacher looks like a princess & is even nicer than her Kindergarten teacher she says. Maybe this will be more professional next time but Ta ta for now.

Welcome!

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

...and another one is forced into the blogging world! This blog is dedicated to the adventurous lives of Ian, Josh, Eliza, Isaac, and sometimes their very busy parents.