We have had tons of fun. School is going well. The kids are making friends slowly, because of living in the country, but have had a few places to meet people. I met a family when Adam had a pinewood derby race, and the mom told me about activities some of her friends do. They planned to have a egg hunt between sessions of General conference on Saturday.

We went and Johnny thought it was the biggest party he has ever had for his birthday. His birthday pictures will come later. Johnny had a fun birthday and thank you for the calls. He loves phone calls and loves getting mail. Five is the birthday where he definitely wants to milk the day for birthday presents. As soon as he woke up he was asking when we would give him presents. We made him wait till after lunch to give them to him. He was patient. We had fun and love the fun of Easter and birthdays.

Thank you all who have written and sent notes. It sure has made my day. The notes the ward ladies sent made me cry happy tears and I really appreciate the thought that was put into those notes. Thank you friends I miss you too.

Joe has gone in a helicopter a couple of times for work looking at the lines and has fun doing it. What an experience!

A family in the ward brought us a load of wood and we are so greatful. I know it is much warmer than in Indiana but we use only the wood to heat the house. Thank you.

Ian getting some Easter eggs

John playing

hanging out

Adam playing

Tyler playing

Sammi talking to Ian

The group of kids that went on the egg hunt

Ian so cute

Tyler showing his loot

Sam and Ty

Adam hunting for eggs

Johnny showing his loot

the kids all sang Happy Birthday to Johnny. I think he sang the loudest.
He was so excited to have so many people at his "birthday party"

One of the pirks of the job!!!!!!!

He is found

I was calling the wrong animal shelter and finally got a hold of the correct one. Saturday afternoon we decided we should go drive by the shelter hoping we could see if her was taken there. to our luck he was. We changed our numbers yesterday and the shelter couldn't get a hold of us and since I was calling the wrong shelter they didn't have information for me. Sunday the worker called and told us when she got to work on Sat AM that our dog was there guarding the place. Obviously he liked the place and had that as his homing device. He ran 5 miles to get there and she said he slept the whole day. We went and got him before we went to church and he was happy to see all of us. We are all relieved he is with us again.
John and Ty are taking swim lessons at the Y and are having tons of fun. I will find something else for the older kids to do later in the week.

Dog got out!

We put the dog out last night about 9:00 pm and called for him at about 9;30. 2 gates were left open and he is gone. The kids are devastated and we searched for about an hour. hopefully the pound will pick him up if someone finds him. So that is the end of going to the beach today. Hopefully someone finds and calls for him to be picked up or he miraculously find our home.

I finally have internet again

Well I have not had computer access since we left Indiana on the 5th of Feb. I am so excited! Well I didn't have the chance to tell you all but we have moved again. Oregon is our new home and hopefully now it will be permanent.

We traveled and visited as many people as we could before we arrived and stayed in a hotel for 2 wks. It really wasn't as bad as when we moved to IN. This hotel had 2 rooms a kitchen and livrm space. We had to do that because the rental we were waiting for wasn't available til the 1st of March.

The ward is nice and have met a few people at church. I have been trying to unpack and get the house ready, so I haven't been out much but getting groceries and stuff. We will have the elders here tomorrow night. We are on 5 rural acres and we just got a dog we named Jack at the animal shelter. I really think we found the perfect match. He is calm and loves each of the kids. He has even had the kids not being very gentle with him and he is still very sweet. He is a Lab, Australian Shepard mix and is about 1-11/2. The kids love him and they have fun leading him around.

The kids have had fun running around. Sam got a tick in her bellybutton and I got it out successfully. She is sore but hopefully she won't have problems with it.

Joe is adjusting well in his job. Always tons to learn in a new job.

well I didn't post in order

Well I was going to post Adam's birthday, Halloween, Ian's Birthday, Adam's baptism, Christmas, New Years and the new news. I jumped ahead to Adam's baptism. So now back.

spidey John

playing outside

Ian's 1st birthday looking at the candles

Ian's birthday cupcakes Pictures of his "party" on another camera

our ginger bread house
I got a picture of Santa trying to escape.

Ian put this glove on by himself he was so happy

playing outside

John pushing Ian on the vac

Ok 1st things 1st

All right I know I really have not posted about anything forever!

Here are some picts of Adam's beautiful baptism. Joe baptized him and we had a beautiful program with tons of friends who came to support him. With the help of my friend Robin I made a video to show of Adam when the guys were changing. It was so great to share pictures of Adam with people and for him to see the pictures was fun.

lots of stuff so little time...

Well, where to start. I visited Maryann in the hospital when she had her new baby Sidon. It was great to see her. I had a good time visiting her and Brian again.
Home school is going well. Of course I have moments wondering if I am going insane. The kids are great and for the most part listen to what I have to say. Traveling is fun in a way because we get to spend the better part of the day in a pool. The school part is just slimmed down to a few core subjects because I can't bring the whole library. We get it done and enjoy being with dad.
Adam turned 8. I will do a separate blog after the baptism on Sat.
Ian is 1. Halloween was fun and we went to lots of parties and I did the kids makeup 3 times. With each time I got better and faster on putting on the makeup. It was fun.
Thanksgiving was nice. We all were not feeling well. We canceled having Marcello and his family come, they were really sick. We were invited to another friends house but we declined because of how we felt. Sam and I did do all the traditional TG stuff. She made rolls from scratch and did all the sides. She was a big help since I really didn't have the energy. I did do everything GF except rolls for the family. I even made an apple pie for Ty. I got really frustrated with that one! The crust was really the constancy of mashed potatoes, I even added more flour and it never firmed!!! Oh well everything tasted great.
Joe has been able to hunt whitetail deer on our land for the past few months. He has been very successful in putting meat in the freezer. Two does and one buck. Our freezer is full. I feel blessed.
We really have been blessed this year. I am so grateful for my wonderful family, health, a roof over our heads and such wonderful family and friends. I could take up all the post on just the things I am grateful for. Joe knows I could he hears my long prayers;)
I have been really been bitten by the ancestry bug lately. I have gone back on my mothers side starting with myself, 8 generations. It is not complete, but finding pieces. I am really finding it interesting finding out where they came from and stuff is really exciting. We were given a copy of my grandma Bennee's journal and I really enjoyed a brief look into her life. I guess it has hit me more how sad I feel of how little I knew of my grandpa Storey. I know that it can be the case that when the grand kids are ready to listen sometimes it's too late or life gets in the way. I am typing with tears in my eyes and not being able to think clearly. I just know we each have a duty to write down things about ourselves, and any family member we can remember. WE are the only link future generations have to their past. If knowledge leaves with us, no one will ever know. Even if it is a paper with names and dates, pictures with names on the back, or even journal entries. We get glimpses into lives of others, maybe see a picture and say, oh that is where... got those eyes. Maybe traditions we would like to pass on or recipe book. Things are endless. I think that just starting on any memory is a good place start writing or recording. Just be brave and take it one memory at a time.