Trunk-or-Treat

Tyler and his "girlfriend"

Sammi's good friend

Adam's good friend

Sammi decided to be a pioneer since she forgot her witch costume at school on Friday. She had a good friend that had an extra costume. She fit right in with their family's theme. Look, the pioneers even took along a mouse. I bet they took those with them for real all the time.

I should have had Sam step in with their photo. Fun

Crazy running man Joe, and little mouse.

Jasper

Our social mouse

Sick pioneer

Sam, Ian and John about ready for some chili.

Johnny needs a shave. What do you expect from a pirate?

When I was a teenager, I had really long, light brown/blond hair and was bone strait. Those that knew me then would probably not think that this costume is a far stretch from the look I had everyday. The people I know here all had to do double takes and some people didn't know who I was. Very funny.

I love trunk or treat. We don't have to go up and down neighborhoods to get candy. I know everyone in the group and kids are in a safe environment and wont get run over by cars in the hustle to get their stash of candy. The bonus this year is that we weren't going to go anywhere on Sunday but to church. So, this was the best thing for our family. We got plenty of candy and all had a wonderful time.

I love dressing up. Being someone I am not, have imagination, creative in the process of figuring out what to wear, etc. In our home we have costumes and play all the time. I love that the kids want to play and find sometimes the simplest thing and play for hours with it.

Have a wonderful holiday season.

Woops, I forgot this was below where I wrote, Joe and all the long locks.

a month or so

Ian's little feet

Sammi drinking from the spring

Ty and Ian playing in the river

The fish caught

Ian telling me to get out of the car and close the door.

Rhea and Sammi fishing

JP and Adam fishing

John throwing rocks in the water

At the river

view from the 2nd story

My friend Ruby

Grandma Doris and Raegan

Kids and GG

GG with kids

John's first day of school

1st day for John

5th grade

John Kindergarten

Adam 3rd

Boy, I have been busier than I thought. Not keeping up on posting has been not good. How am I to even remember all that has occurred in the last month?

One of the funnest things that we had the privilege to do is have my Grandma Doris come for four days. boy she arrived a month ago and I didn't write about it...We got to spend time talking, visiting the kids at school, and shopping in our downtown stores. I ended up getting really sick one night and had to go to the doctor and that was a blessing she was here, she watched the kids for us. I know it was stressful, Tyler was a real handful and acted out like he was a wild man. Grandma told me what he was doing and I have never seen him EVER act like that. Sorry Grandma!! I had labs drawn and a few days later got the results and my blood work came back fine. just some weird fluke of the flu or something that came and went so quickly. It had all of us stumped.

Having Grandma here was such a joy. We all enjoyed her company so very much. I finally felt like we were able to get to know each other even with all the kid interruptions. I loved hearing the stories she shared with me about her family and about her past. I got to know more about my Dad's father and will be asking to see pictures when I go to see my Dad this year. I am very glad she took the time to visit us. Next time she will need to have an open ended stay, and just stay for as long as she wants.

I posted the picture proofs of the kids school pictures. I wanted you to see what they look like at the moment. They are growing so much. I love who they each are becoming. It makes me so happy. Scary, Sammi has been "asked out" by two boys now, and I am proud of her and love how she reacts to the boys who like her. "I cannot date until I am 16". Even when the boys try to tell her to keep it a secret and not to tell me, she said, "no way" and tells me as soon as she walks in the door from school. I told her it is flattering that boys like her, and I ask her what she thinks of the boys who tell her to lie to me? She said," if the boys are pushing me to do something that you don't want me to do, those boys I wouldn't like because they obviously don't really like me. They also don't know me very well to want me do disobey my parents!" YES!!! She does like a boy at school don't get me wrong, she likes him because he is a good kid at school and is respectful, and also tells kids not to use bad language. I love that Sammi is still playing at school. So many kids in 5th grade want to stand around looking older and have no imagination. Some kids at school started teasing her for playing dragons, and playing on the school equipment. She came back telling them they are only in 5th grade and it was FUN! A couple of days later some of those kids she saw playing at recess, and she smiled.

Adam is doing great at school. He is really not challenged at school, A+ on most of his work. He was doing some 4th grade work last year, and tells me he learned most of this work in 1st grade. He is completely bored. He loves the social stuff at school. loves gym and recess most of all. He earned his wolf in cub scouts and is enjoying doing cub scouts with Dad as his leader. He has been earning badges, belt loops and beads galore. We have a great cub scout den leader, and are really enjoying it as a family. Adam is also being a great example at school. He has been getting awards almost every day. The teachers notice how out of the way he goes to help others when he thinks no one is looking, in a variety of different ways. He love the recognition, and I think he really thrives on helping others, rewards are a bonus to him. He has even given the rewards to others because they don't have one. So sweet.

Johnny is loving kindergarten. 60 kids in his class all together. So I haven't been able to go visit like I was able to do with Sam and Adam. I know I have more kids, but I need to go in once in a while. Johnny comes home tired sometimes. The kids wake up at 545 and he has school full day everyday. He is loving learning to read and write. he said he doesn't get enough time to play with his friends. Sooo sad :( hehe. I think Jack likes being with John, I have found Jack sleeping on his bed some nights, with his head on John's legs. cute.

Tyler is having fun. We are having 2 kids over about 2-3 days a week while their mom subs at school. Tyler and the girl his age, are great friends and tell each other they love each other all day long. They get along great. Ty is very talkative and really carries on conversations very well. His health is great and is growing very tall. He is also very loving to others.

Ian is learning to share. I am very happy with the kids coming over, the boys are a few months apart and love the same toys so sometimes they want the same toys at the same time. That is fun drama! But both boys are learning and I like that they are doing better every day. Ian is speaking slowly but is getting better with his speech. when everyone just gives him what he wants without asking for it, speech gets delayed. A few months ago he was sitting in his chair and at dinner he said, "I want salt too". So I know he can talk when he wants to. My baby is growing so much. He is no longer my baby, time flies!! I know that is what everyone says even when the baby is 30.

Joe is going to get an insulin pump. We feel it will help regulate the blood levels better. We decided to also get the model that comes with a separate device that monitors the level of sugar in the blood constantly. It has an alarm if he starts to go too low. I think that will be helpful since he has had a few lows while sleeping.

I get frustrated at the order of my pictures. I wanted the pictures of GG and us to be first, and I cant move the arrangement very frustrating.

We went to my friends cabin about and hour and a half away last week. We had a blast. We needed to do it in the middle of the week because it was their last time out there because they will be going back to the Philippines in a few weeks. We will all miss them very much. I have really loved getting to know Ruby. She is a good person and I love the testimony she has of the gospel. Glen and the kids, Rhea 11 and JP 12, are such great friends, I know the kids will miss each other. The kids might not come back next year. I think it kind of gets hard to miss so much of school, and to home school the other part when they are here. Thank you for having us out to the cabin. It was so beautiful, and peaceful.

life

Joe and I went hunting on Saturday 9-21 for elk and had a wonderful time together. We went to a place that we have never been to before and kind of had to just explore. We saw plenty of deer and turkey and cattle tracks but no elk. Until the last 30 min we finally heard them. They were staying hidden in the forest right in front of us. We wouldn't have been able to narrow the gap because we would have needed to go across a field to get to them. It was also right before sun down, and didn't have a way to go around without being seen.
We had a blast and would enjoy very much doing that again. Now what to do with the kids... Baby sitter was very expensive for 17 hrs! picture when I find it. Found some!

Thank you Joe I love being with you. You are truly my best friend and I so enjoy being with you

Bagles

I love the fact that I can find beautiful Gluten free foods in the store for Tyler. I love the fact they look just like the real thing so he doesn't feel left out. The down side is when he finds the real ones and thinks they are his. A few weeks ago he had an English muffin and loved it and then took a bite of one that wasn't his. I know I must confuse him, because sometimes I'll make GF corn bread, GF garlic biscuits, even cake or muffins that we all eat. I just feel bad when he has helped himself and then it hurts his body.
I loved seeing his face this morning when I gave him his first bagel with cream cheese. It made me a little teary. He looked at me with big eyes while he was chewing and lovingly said DELICIOUS!!! I guess I get so moved because I think that we all can take it for granted the things we eat and to really find something that tastes so good GF has been hard to find. Now I really need to perfect the art of making my own flour so it wont break the bank to get the flour I need to make him good food.

last of summer and back to school 10

Probably the picture I would send out to everyone for Christmas. Since we now don't have a photographer/friend where we live.:( Well we had some better of everyone else, but Tyler was lying upside down and face in my lap for the rest.

Fun to have another picture of Joe and I. I liked this one.

Mom and Layne came and we went to Crater Lake and had tons of fun. Lots of driving for the weekend, but we enjoyed the time together in the car. We had 2 cars so we would take turns where we would sit to talk to each other.

Grandma and Grandpa with 4 of the kids.

The dark blue is the clouds on the water. the water is so clear. Maybe we will hike to the water next time.

First day of school Sam, 5th grade, Adam 3rd grade. Johnny will start next week.

A few weeks ago, Joe took this deer on the first day of archery. A good amt of meat in the freezer.

Grandma and Grandpa with Tyler in the redwoods. We also went to the beach and didn't seem to remember the camera there. Too bad we had some fun moments there.

We had a wonderful Memorial weekend with my mom and Layne. They drove 12 hours here and spent 3 days here and we drove to the redwoods, coast and to crater lake. We drove about 2 hours each direction. I know we had a lot of driving but the time together was really fun and beats sitting at home all day.

I am so glad they took the time to come out here. Living far from family can sometimes be hard expecially in getting to know eachother. The kids grow so much and if too long of time passes, the younger kids forget those they have met. Sometime we will live closer to family again. I am really glad we got to see them and really miss them.

We had a wonderful summer with all the adventures locally and hopefully many more memories to come.

Kids went back to school yesterday and had a great time. I was a little nervous, kind of like sending off the kindergardner, excitement was also a strong emotion I felt for them. I hope they enjoy this school as much as they did in Wyoming.

updates

I can see I have been very delinquent in my writing. Not that I have been very good it it in the first place. Summer is still going on over here. We have until after Sept 7th to start school. I guess since home schooling, vacation has not been so needed. We definitely had more time on our hands and saw each other all the time. The kids will start public school again in the fall. They really wanted to meet friends and I don't blame them. I just need to choose the school. I really enjoyed having the kids home but they have made the decision. I always said they could if they wanted to.
We have had Sammi's friend over for at least one day a week for the summer. We have had her over for 3 and still were all getting along. Sometimes Sammi needs a nap after she goes home, she gets cranky sometimes. I need a nap most days:). jk. some.
We went to Joe's uncles funeral in Georgetown, CA the first weekend in Aug. We had a good time visiting with family. When we lived in Sacramento, Joe and I would always visit this family and became good friends with Joe's cousins that lived in town. We visited for Christmas and Thanksgiving and got together for different things. It was good to see them all again. Garner will sure be missed.
After I called up Laurie and found out she was planning a trip to the mall that was across the road from our hotel. Sammi and I went with her and Ananda to shop. We had fun and both of us thought even though it has been 6 years since we have seen each other, it didn't seem like any time has passed. Just kids growing up. We went over to her house for dinner and had a blast. I really have missed her.
I have not been reading as mush as I was wanting to in the summer. I guess that will have to wait till school starts again. I have watched a few movies I am enjoying again. I know the romantic in me or something, I have enjoyed dr. quinn and watched anne of green gables. Maybe it's a life so foreign that intrigues me.
Speaking of, I have met a woman here that I have really loved getting to know. Her name is ruby. She is from the Philippines and she and her family live here for 6 months and there for 6 months. She is very interesting and I love learning things from her.
Joe is doing well at work. Of course the ins and out of a new job are there, but he is doing great and getting things done others have not been able to do. Joe is going out hunting when he can, serving our church in driving a pear picking truck, serving in cub scouts, finnishing up school hopefully by the end of the year, if he can clep out of some classes he could be done in 2 months, and being home every night. We are SOOO happy.
I have more pictures to share of some more fun times we are having but are on the camera Joe has with him. My mom and step dad will be coming out in less than a month and we are counting down the days for their arrival.







Went bowling as a family, and bowling with me and the kids a few times. Together as a family was MUCH better and less hectic.

John and Tyler made army spiders. Laurie gave these to us and the kids are having a blast.

Joe has been asked to drive the pear picking truck for the church's only pear Orchard. The pears provide all of the pears given to those in need throughout the world through the bishops storehouses. It really makes the importance of serving that much more important. I guess Joe's service, my support.

Blackberry eating faces of Ty and Ian

Sammi went with Joe to the range. She sat there and watched the target the whole time. She would tell him little to the right or right on that time...

At the beginning of the summer unloading the first load of wood.

We had a play date. 10 boys and 1 girl. I was the only adult. Another girl came later to play with Sammi. It was a good day and the kids got along really well.

The trail camera took lots of pictures of the deer and this was one I liked.

Coyotes

Johnny and Adam helping to put up the trail camera

Fun times at the park. We go there often and hardly remember to bring out the camera.
One of the many tricks Adam does. Couldn't capture all of them. The whole blog would be of him and all the tricks I could miraculously capture on still photos.

Ty and Ian played in the sand in the baseball field throwing it on each other and digging holes, while we played touch football