Cross Country

Hailey ran cross country again for Team Moose!

The Poor Thing!  She ate five pancakes before the race! She said that was the worst stomache ache she had ever had!  Not only that but, she stopped in the middle of the race to help a friend who had fallen and she still came in 8th!  Way to go!  I am super proud of you!

Sierra also ran cross country for the Junior High School.  Unfortunately all her meets were after school on Tuesdays. (the same day I teach piano lessons)  She says it was fun and she improved upon her time thoughout the entire season!  Good Job, Sierra!

Interception!

Cole had a great game against the Badgers!  Cole is white number 95 in the pictures below.  The ball is in the air just left of the Domino's sign.  He got the interception at the 10 yard line and they didn't get him down until the 40!  Way to go!

This is the same game after the hand-off.  He looks like he is the model for the trophies!

Cole vs Goliath!  That is Cole up against Blue #81! 

THE SPAM MEAT CONNECTION
Cole believes eating Spam is good luck for him on game day.  Here is the story.  We try to expose the kids to different foods from around the world.  One night when we were eating something new the kids mentioned Spam and how they liked eating new kinds of food but they would not, no matter what, be eating Spam!  Well, being the "mean" parents we are we knew we had to give it to them because we didn't want them having the attitude that they are too good to eat something.  Soon after this we served Spam for dinner just before Cole had a basketball game.  They liked it!  He had a great game that night and his coach said, "I don't know what you fed that boy but keep giving it to him!"  Of couse we all laughed at this!  So Friday night he brought me a can of spam from the pantry and asked if we could have it for breakfast before the game on Saturday. (pictured above)  I made spam and eggs on english muffins and he had another great game!  It looks like I'll be buying Spam by the case from now on!

Seeing the World with New Eyes

We had the amazing experience of being tour guides for a family from Korea!   JY Son works for the same company as John and had to work here for two months. He brought his family with him. (wife-Soon, daughter-Jiwan, son-Gwan and mother Ok Yeong).  We got the opportunity to take them to Yellowstone Park, Jackson Hole, and a Blue Angels air show.  You might be thinking, "So what?  Been there, done that."  I know, but it was an experience I will never forget.  We traveled in separate cars and moved caravan style through the Rocky Mountains.  I gained a new appreciation for the beauty and variety of the world around me.  We truly live in a beautiful part of the country.  I have been blessed to be able to live here and raise my children here too.  Every mountain vista, every wild animal, every flower and mountain stream I saw was like seeing it for the first time.  I remembered the wonder I felt when my family first moved to Montana.  I wondered if they were bored or too tired from all the driving to notice the things I saw.  As it turns out each time we stopped to rest they would go on and on about everything they saw!  They had a great time and it was fun to see them enjoying it as much as me. 
Everyone was a little nervous at first about traveling with people we didn't know. It is a good thing they could speak some English because we didn't know a bit of Korean.  Conversation was difficult but then we learned to enunciate better and they became more confident in their English so it was easier at the end.  

I will always be grateful for the chance to make new friends and remember the blessings I have been given by my Heavenly Father.

Golfing, it's harder than it looks!

Brook has played on the high school golf team for two years now.  She is getting pretty good at it and participated in a few youth golf association tournaments this summer.  (I would like to have more pictures of her golfing but I cant figure out how to get my camera to be quiet!  As soon as she begins a swing all you can hear is "click, click, click!"  It doesn't seem loud until you are on a golf course or a driving range!)  Anyway, she is a good sport about going out with the family and giving us pointers.  The younger kids and John are picking it up pretty well.  As for me?  No comment!

Crazy Mail!

So this is Robyn. Mom said that the only way I was allowed to get the pictures off her camera was if I put them up on the blog, so here we go!

I got a banana in the mail! My friend Tyler Mertz, who is currently in the MTC, heard somewhere that the post office would mail a banana as long as there is a stamp and an address. So he tried. I got such a surprise today that is for sure.

Independence Day

I love the 4th of July!  I love that I live in America!  I don't want to be anywhere else.

We had a great day.  Church was wonderful.  It was good to feel gratitude for ALL our blessing including the opportunities we have living in this great nation.  I feel blessed in too many ways to count.

After church we had some friends over to the house.  It was too cold to hold the BBQ outside so we stayed in. John grilled the meat of course.  After we ate enough to last all week we sat down and played a marathon game of Catan.  It lasted from dinner until dark.  As we were putting the game away we realized how dark it had gotten.  We almost missed the neighborhood show!

This photo was fun.  I can't believe how perfect it came out.

The Kids

This was the cake I made to celebrate the holiday. It looks pretty non-decript but then...

TA-DAH!

Happy Independence Day!  Thank you to everyone who made and are making sacrifices to make and keep us free.

New Camera

Happy Birthday to ME!  John totally scored big with this birthday gift! I have wanted a camera for a very long time and when we finally went through the 3rd cheap camera in 2 years he decided it was time to stop buying and time to invest!  (More likely he got tired of me whining not being happy with the results I would get with the point and shoot versions!).  Whatever the reason, I am THRILLED!  I have been having a blast with this new "toy".  I have a ton to learn...but it is the fun kind of learning.  Here is some of what I have been able to do so far.  PLEASE remember... I am not a professional nor do I play one on TV or in Blog-land.  It's just me having a good time.  (If you want to help my family then you can come over and let me photograph you because I think my family is getting tired of me being my photo guinea pigs!)

This is one from my first "photo session"  Hailey was a good sport and when the wind picked up this is what we got!

This is from the YW's 5 mile hike last saturday.

This is totally legit!  The kids were really playing monopoly and I was playing with different lighting and focus settings.

I am thinking of putting this in B&W and then getting different game pictures for the new family room.

The kids had just come in from playing in the rain.  Ususally I am annoyed when they leave their shoes by the door but now I look at everything and think, "This would make a great picture!"  (I know, they are just boots, but I like it.)

This one is legit too!  Brook was making cookies and I was getting on her nerves!

Maybe I'll write that cook book I have been dreaming about.

I have taken hundreds of pictures since my birthday (it's only been two weeks).  I don't like them all and I wont be keeping all of them. There are a lot that I do like.  There is no way I could post or even frame them all.  But I figure that if I take a lot of pictures I'm bound to find a few that work.  Hopefully as I practice it won't take so many bad pics to get to those good ones.