It's been a long time

Okay, I truly am a serious slacker..... at least when it comes to blogging. Rachel has inspired me and hopefully I can do better. It has been a very busy 2 years.. I am now in the nursing program and moving forward. Joe is also enrolled in school for fire fighting. We have a new missionary out and he will be leaving for Mexico City in a week and a half... Curtis is home from Spain and attending ASU, Lee and Mattie have moved to Maryland and Lee is still in the Marines and they are expecting a new addition to the family, Clint and Shanlee now have 2 beautiful girls, Chrissy and Jimmie have a sweet little boy, Adam will be graduating from ASU this December, Becca is a Senior in High School and Michael is a Freshman.

Not Long Enough

Okay, well it had been a few months since we had been to the hospital and someone thought we needed to go again!!! Thursday night during cheer practice Becca encountered a stunt gone wrong! Now she has a broken nose to sport around and she is starting to bruise. Her nose swelled so quickly that her skin started to split on the outside from the swelling! At least she won't have to wear makeup for a while, there is always a plus side to all things! She will see the ENT sometime this week and we will find out if she will need surgery. In the mean time, life goes on!!!!

Wonderful Weekend

She is a precious witch!

A little blurry but a great group of trick or treaters!!!

Jacob and Michael!

Brookelyn

Getting ready for school! Michael took first place for his girl costume!!

The weekend was the best. First we went to the Football game on Friday night. SL vs Payson and we won... so now we are in the play offs. Whoo hooo!

Saturday morning we were up bright and early to go to Tempe for the Diabetes walk. It was a super event and we had so many people there that we love. Janna has those pictures! I will get them and post them also. Saturday night was Halloween and we got to go trunk or treating with the grandbabies!!! That was way fun and we even were able to have Rachel walk with us and go trunk or treating! The pictures turned out a little blurry because the shutter had to stay open a while since it was dark. I can only hold still for so long!!! haha

Family Vacation, Naomi arrives and school starts

Becca and Naomi Spotting Whales in the Puget Sound

never seen a sign like this before!!!

Wow....what a tree!!!!

Joe's dream....we have arrived!

Greeting Naomi at the airport
We were driving into the parking lot as her plane arrived. We saw it fly over our car. No....we were not late. it was about 15 minutes early!!!

We have had a busy couple of weeks. First of all, Becca and I spent a week at girls camp and Joe and Michael spent the same week at scout camp and Jacob spent that same week in California at football camp. We all got home on Saturday, August 1st and Naomi, our exchange daughter from Switzerland, arrived on that day. If that wasn't enough, on that same day we took off for the Giant Sequioa Forest in California and my Families homes in Washington State and we took a week for all of that traveling! We are home now. The kids are all registered for school and ready to start tomorrow. Naomi is a little nervous. Jacob and Becca are just excited and so is Michael. He is going to be in Jr High this year and is starting out with football practice on the first day of school. Everyone is ready to go. I will like having the regular scheduled days back in our lives and my classes start on August 24th. We are all just loving life!!!!!

We miss Adam, Janna and Brookelyn. It has been a whole month since I have seen that sweet little baby!!!! And we are missing Curtis and Becca Starfox. We will see her sooner than Curtis!

Baby on a zip line

Adam had this great idea to put the baby swing on the Zip line and Zip Brookelyn down it!!!
She really did like it!
How many 7 month old babies do you know that have been on a zip line!?

Jannas family came over and watched the fireworks with us and had fun playing with all the grandbabies. We are so glad they came over and spent time with us. We also all watched the parade together and it was so nice. It is nice to be able to take family traditions and blend them so we can all enjoy one anothers company!

Baby Zipping

A Whirlwind of a Month - June to July 2009

Wow..... We did it!!! This month was a busy and crazy one. Where to begin, and I am sure I will miss something! I have been taking classes at NPC working towards my RN so all of this is on top of a summer Chemistry class I have been taking, which by the way I only have 2 more nights to go!!!

On June 10th we had to say Good bye for now to our sweet daughter Becca M. She has gone back to Norway. We miss her terribly and want her to return home so badly! It was a crazy day, as the plane leaving Show Low was delayed and would not leave on time to make it possible for her to catch her connecting flight in Phoenix, sooo we loaded in a hurry and drove down to Phoenix to drop her off at the airport there. We made it with only minutes to spare!!!

Saying goodbye at home!

She only thought she would be flying out of this airport!!!!
Back at home again! She was not expecting this! It was even harder to leave the second time!

At the airport in Phoenix! It was really real this time!

June 19th Lee and Mattie were married in San Diego CA and they had their wedding on the Beach! It was beautiful

The bride and groom

Our family on the beach! We were only missing Curtis, Cue and Ryker!

After the wedding, we went to a house that we rented and had a reception there and it was a wonderful evening and night. The rest of the weekend, we relaxed at the house and went to the beach!

Our next big event was an open house on Friday July 3rd in Show Low for Lee and Mattie and of course the 4th of July. This was all fun too! A lot of work but seeing everyone was great and we had the best time! Becca ended up in the hospital the morning of July 3rd and Felecia, Christina, Emily and Josie came to the rescue and saved the Open House! Thanks guys! I love you!

Ryker missed the wedding but he was at the open house and we loved having him there!

Brookelyn at the Parade with Grandma....

Lily and Bentlyee playing in the sprinkler at Grandma and Grandpas on the 4th!

Well, I think that is it! This is all that we have done over the last 3 weeks! This and school and work that is! I am sure I forgot something, oh ya, like all of the fundraising done for cheer and football.... working on the cabin..... and trying to keep the house clean... :)

Yup, Becca's a Genius!!!!

Okay, we forgot about this little clip. Becca and a friend were making up a handshake and this is her in her full Geniusness!!!!! Enjoy, and you gotta love her, she's the little girl!

Memorial Day Weekend and Schools out!!!

Whew, It was a crazy end of the school year and weekend but we made it all work out with some flexibiltiy. Becca Graduated on Thursday night and had an all night lock in at the High School for a Senior party. Rachel also graduated on Thursday night as well as my neice Emily. WE had a lot of graduation ceremonies to attend and did the best we could.

Our "graduate"

We were missing Byntlee in the group picture. She thought that it was still Easter cuz Grandma left the Easter eggs out!!!!

We did not make it camping, but we did make it together with all of the family and that was the most important thing to do. Lee and Mattie came from San Diego and Adam and Janna came up from the valley. We spend almost all day Saturday working on the Wedding announcements for Lee and Mattie. Rachel came over the help us out and that was so nice to have an extra hand. They turned out beautiful!!!

Sunday, everyone was over for a BBQ and a small fire and smores. That was the best part!!! WE had the entire family here, well all except for Curtis, but we understand why he isn't here, and Que, he had to be at work. They were in our hearts though. Ryker was able to come over also and see all of his girl cousins. Lee jokingly said that someone needed to get busy so Ryker would have a boy cousin to hang out with but he did so good with everyone and was so happy. Byntlee and Ryker played cars and ball together and both of them shared really well. They were way too cute. It was good to have all of us together.

Lee and Mattie's Announcement

Lee and Mattie are Getting Married

It is official. Lee and Mattie are getting Married. The wedding date is June 20th, 2009. The wedding is going to be in California on the beach. It is going to be so very pretty!!! I am so happy to have Mattie as a part of our family. We have had the opportunity to spend much time iwth her while Lee was away in Iraq and she has become a part of our family already and I have grown to love her so much! She is a beautiful lady inside and out and I am proud to have her as my daughter.

We had everyone over for a bbq and had a great time just hanging out and making wedding plans.......

Becca Went to Prom

Becca went to prom with her friend Joey and they had a wonderful time. She said it was the best dance she had been to and was so happy to go. She looked beautiful that night and I am sure it will be and I am sure it will be a night to remember here in America. Of course during picutes we all had to have our photo op with her!!!!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

The Day After

After an emotional night at Camp Pendleton.... we drove to Anaheim where we had a motel and woke up the next morning and spent the entire day at Six Flags with Lee!!! It was fabulous to spend an entire day with him after he had been gone for so many months. Everyone had a great time.

I can not put into words!!!

I can not put into words or express the joy I felt that night as I saw my son. The emotions of being there and knowing that he was back home and we could see him and talk to him are beyond conveyance.

Brothers gotta hug!!!!

Lee is Home!!

We traveled to Camp Pendelton on Tuesday, April 14th to Welcome Lee home and it was wonderful!! WE left from Adam and Jannas house after spending Monday night with them. They are always so good about letting us have a place to stay when we need one. It made our trip to San Diego so much nicer by being able to split up our driving time from Show Low. When we arrived in San Diego, we went shopping for a prom dress for Becca/ We were there little early so we took advantage of our time. I am sure she was the only one at prom with a dress from California!!! We got on base at Camp Pendleton about 7pm that night and I was so worried that we were going to miss Lee because Mattie had texted me and told me that the plan landed around 5:30, but we were far from missing him. We did not actually get to see him until late that night. WE all hung out just waiting for our family to come home and be with us. It seemed like an eternity and it was freezing outside, but once they announced that the busses were pulling on base and would be there any minute, it was not cold any longer. Everyone was cheering and laughing and crying. We watched as bus after bus passed us and Lee had told us he was on the 4th bus. As the Marines walked down the road to be dismissed we looked and looked. I did not know where he would be as 6 busses had pulled in and he was at the front!! Christina spotted him first and all I could do was run in the direction he was walking!!! I frantically searched in a wave of people and then I saw him. I called after him and just as he went to turn around from the sound of my voice, there was Mattie right next to him. She hadnt noticed it was him unitl he turned around and they were instantly in each others arms!!!!

Of course the rest of us got our turns too!!!! WE are so happy to have Lee Home!!!

San Diego.... Here we come

Our trip to San Diego and Waiting for Lee to arrive>......
It was a long trip/ especially for Joe, the driver!!!
They had a room decorated and lots of refreshments for the waiting families

Even Becca was an American on this day!!!
WE met Christina on Campus in San Diego and she went to Camp Pendleton with us.