The Seven of Us

The girls and I went to Salt Lake and Rexburg for Spring Break.  My  Uncle Den  and Aunt Susan live in Salt Lake.  I think we wore them (and me) out! Aunt Susan made amazing taco soup and homemade strawberry shortcake (including real whipped cream from heavy cream). I couldn't quite finish mine. We stayed with them a little less than 24 hours, but we were able to go to church with Aunt Sue and the girls were able to get to know them a little more. As normal, Uncle Dennis told fun stories and Aunt Susan filled us in on the family. She has a great memory and has known my parents for 45-plus years, so I often learn something new from her.  Sunday afternoon we left for Rexburg. On the way, we made an unplanned stop at the Idaho Falls temple, which was the first temple I ever visited.  In 1988 my family stopped there when we made our trip around the US (one month, lots of KOA Kampgrounds, a few Motel 6s, and about 25-30 states. I need to blog about it!...

In general, Isaac is still the kind, sensitive kiddo he's always been. I've really been able to see his sensitive side and his kindness this summer. That said, he does like to clown around.  He plays the part of an immature preteen quite well at times.  I love him regardless of how he acts, but I really, really like being around him when he checks his behavior a little. However, since he's in the clown phase, I thought I'd post these photos as evidence. Maybe sometime they'll be ancient history. 

Today I was in the tub at lunchtime. I'd run around all morning--swim lessons, errands, housework, lunch. I'd promised to take Corbin swimming, but I knew I needed a few minutes alone first. There was a knock on the bathroom door, some mumbled words, and some noise. Eventually I figured out that Corbin wanted bacon. I told him I was having some alone time and I would not unlock the bathroom door to hep him. I suggested he ask McKenna for help.  He asked me to slide a package of bacon back under the bathroom door to him, which I did (I hadn't even noticed it was there).  All was quiet again. I finished my bath, assuming Kenna was helping him. After I was done, I went downstairs to Kenna's room, where she was relaxing after having worked all morning. I was about to thank her for helping Corbin with the bacon, but he piped up and said he'd cooked it himself. WHAT? I looked to Kenna for confirmation, while saying "You didn't help him?" She  shrugged her...

Caleb turned 16 on August 13th. Here's a little story about how the day actually went. Caleb couldn't wait to get his license. Knowing it was important to him, we helped him double-check his driving logs, signed everything, made certain the DMV  was open that day, and arranged for Taylor to bring him to Holyoke. I made arrangements with my principal to leave school for a few minutes in order to meet him at the DMV. (Luckily, school hadn't started yet, so I had some flexibility. I ended up needing it.)  We met at the arranged time. We filled out paperwork. Things were going well. I could feel Caleb's excitement.  Grumpy Lady from the DMV took her clipboard outside to inspect the vehicle Caleb would be driving. We were in for a few surprises.  Caleb had wanted to test in the Suburban, but it failed the inspection because of a blinker that blinked, but not correctly (it has 2 halves, and only half of it blinks).   No problem , I thought. I'll just...

Here are a few pictures from last Christmas. It was our first Christmas in our new house.  Here are the girls modeling Grandma Rosanne's hats.  Rosanne has some pretty amazing talents & makes awesome things every year: aprons, scarves, nightgowns, etc.  H ere's Corbin with his stash. Underneath, you can see his excitement while opening his stuff !  Jared usually passes presents out, so if we don't nag him a little, he won't open anything till the end.  I love this expression! Terrible lighting, but the food was good!  My good friend Donna Veca.  I've known her for about 18 years.  Even though I don't see her as much as I should, I always enjoy my time with her! All of us.  (we gave all of the kids a Haxtun basketball t-shirt.)  Taylor is 18, Caleb, 16; Isaac, 11; Kenna, 14; Corbin, 7.  And I'm 40! (Jared is 41)  This was taken during Christmas break.  There were a few nights ...

In the spring of 2013, I called our realtor.  For several years (maybe five) we'd been saying that we needed a bigger house.  Ours felt huge when we bought it in 2001. We had just three kids,  and they were young. Young kids don't need much space, and their stuff is small, and they all congregate in the same place anyway.  Also, our Bryan St. house had only been about 630 sq feet--so anything would've felt huge in comparison.   Anyway, I called Laura to ask about rentals.  We'd had it with our no storage/stuff everywhere/poorly heated/energy-inefficient home.  Two years ago I wasn't working, and we assumed (wrongly) that we couldn't qualify to buy another home, so we had decided that even renting would be an improvement.  Laura promised to keep her eye out for something appropriate, and then she said, "I should have you look at a place...remember the Penningtons?  Well, their house just come up for sale.  It's a foreclosure..." ...

A few facts about me: I like food.  A lot. I don't overeat, and I don't eat a lot of junk (no MSG, not much HFCS, not a lot of pre-packaged, prepared stuff), but I do like food.  My go-to foods for the past year or so are strawberry greek yogurt with granola, strawberries, and sometimes chia seeds; Kashi and Cascadian farms granola bars; water; Subway subs, and "real" (homemade) popcorn. I'm not overweight because I like food.  I'm overweight because I didn't exercise much between 2003 and 2009.  Although I know I'm overweight, I don't feel overweight. Why?  1-Believe it or not, I'm smaller than I was about 6 years ago. 2-I'm getting stronger all the time. 3-I exercise regularly and have set some pretty challenging fitness goals lately.  My biggest health fear is developing pelvic floor issues. I've watched 2 friends suffer with the pain and emotional exhaustion caused by pelvic problems. I'm slowly learning about pelvic flo...