Happy Birthday!

Well now, it's your birthday! Hope you had some missionaries over and they made you a cake and pretended to smash an egg on your head! That's how you do it mission style! At least in Brazil. hahaha

 We are getting ready for a little get-together here at the house on Monday.  I will send a bunch of pics of our backyard.  Everything is in bloom and it's beautiful.  And it's all clean!  Wish you guys could come, it's gonna be fun.

Well, what did you wish for?  A transfer? :)  The year will go fast I know, because this one went so fast.  And we'll be seeing you guys soon.

Well, Rob says Happy Birthday too.  Hope you had a great day and that Dad let you plan the day just how you wanted.  Love you!

XOS
Erin

HAPPY, HAPPY Birthday!!!

Oh my goodness, it's almost your birthday...or maybe it is there already but here's the deal, we'll have a HUGE birthday bash for you when you're back to make up for it. SO take lots of pictures to commemorate your day and make dad take you to Wal Mart or something special!

We're in Pasco for the weekend, just played some volleyball this morning; went to the temple yesterday; going to a movie later tonight and overall just hanging out. Been fun. Our latest news is we're going to PUERTO RICO!!!!!!!! Not til October but still, i'm DYING to leave already, it's going to be so fun. I get to plan out our itinerary and it'll be sweet. Snorkeling, hiking in the rainforest, monkey island, old San Juan, etc. It's our 2nd honeymoon!! Anyway...i'll post some pics of our photo shoot with Jett once i get them but just wanted to wish you happy birthday and tell you I just love you so SO much and hope you have a really great day. XOS, kiss hug!!

Happy Early Birthday!!!!

 

Happy Birthday Mom!  Found some of you and Darby since your birthdays are so close!

Just noticed your eyes are close in this one but I thought that is even better cause its very fitting!

Big hug and much love. 

Thanks for all the help over the years!  We are so grateful for your influence!

The Mom

Well, let's see how much we can do here before our little computadora and/or internet coneccion poops out on us.  Thank you all for your sweet Mother's Day e-mails and skype well-wishes -- we thoroughly enjoyed it and appreciate your thoughtfulness.  You guys are absolutely the best!!  Spencer, you are "kind of a big deal" indeed -- you really look sharp all decked out in you dress uniform.  I think I'll re-up.  Congrats again on your promotion, Sergeant McCoy.  Erin, thanks for sharing your Trek experience -- we agree -- you probably have secured your place in heaven.  I'm always amazed, though, at how gung-ho some "trekies" can be -- they seem to think that "realism" is all there is to it and take the fun out of it.  But congratulations -- you survived to tell about it.  Garlan, thank you for your tender tribute to Mom -- she really is a devoted mother and disciple who continues to give her all.  Even though she's waited a long time to serve a mission, it's hard on her to be so far away from loved ones for so long.  Sharla, thx for the pics of you and your little ones -- pretty soon they'll be rock climbing with you.  Be careful doing that stuff -- don't want to hear about any accidents.  And Darek -- can't believe what a home-improvement guru you are -- you really do nice work!!  You're hired!!  (if and when we buy a house in UT or elsewhere).    

So let's see if I can get some photos to post.

 


I not only married above myself, I was smart enough to marry a younger woman -- she's only 65 the 25th of this month!!  Is there any question why all you kids are so good-looking?  I love her with all my heart.  So I think we'll just leave it at that for now -- just a picture of the matriarch of our family.

Love you all lots and lots -- more next time.
XOS,
Dad 


 

"The shading alone took me 3 hrs"

Mom and Dad, so good to Skype with you on Sunday. 

(Atticus is still "nakey buns.")

Glad to hear things are good. Hopefully a change of scenery comes soon.

Mom, sigue practicando el Espanol pues!

Here's some picturas de las casa. 

(Becker in the swing.)

 

Just look at all that amazing SHADE!

Took the kiddos to the Children's Museum last weekend.

Spent a good 4 hrs there...at least a full hour just in this water place.

Kenzie's YW Recognition ceremony last Sunday.

Watermelon eating contest at the Father & Sons Campout last weekend. 

Atticus was so beast.

Best playground toy invention...he and Beck lived on this thing the whole campout.

Madre's Day

Well even tho it wasn't technically mother's day for you yesterday, I was thinking about you and all you've done for all of us. I can't even begin to think about having 9 kids, I'm barely alive with 2! Like seriously, were you insane in the membrane?! You are the best woman I know and despite my burping episodes, I think you did alright with me! Glad you could finally meet Jett and see Brynn again. Altho skype is kind of crappy....

We just had a nice day with Dal's cousins over for dinner and talked to Brett on his mission too. As promised, i have some pics of the little man finally now that i've gotten a charger for my camera. He's a happy, chill little guy and laughs and rolls over and barfs all the time! But he's sleeping about 10 hours now so I really can't complain, even tho it never seems like enough sleep. That's what makes me not want to have more. Maybe we'll do IVF and get some twins!

 We went rock climbing on Sat. with some guys in our ward and it was awesome!! We got up to about 75 ft. and it's SO cool, but a little hard. Worst part is looking up the whole time so your neck gets real sore but we had a lot of fun. First time getting a babysitter too, sheesh...Welp anywho, I love you both more than I express and am so thankful I was sent to this family! xos! kiss hug!

El Dia de Mama!

Hey Madre,

Just wanted to post a quick note and say I've been thinking about you today and miss being able to say Happy Mother's Day in person! I hope you've had a nice day down there and they gave you flowers or chocolate after Sacrament Meeting. I tried to make breakfast this morning for Amanda with mixed results. I was making scrambled eggs and it made me miss when you would make yours, b/c those are the best there are!

There are too many things to say thanks for in one post, but I want you to know how much I love you and appreciate everything you do and have done. As the years keep passing the more and more I realize how much you did for our family growing up. How many sacrifices you made without the recognition. You're truly an amazing woman and I wouldn't trade the world for you! Thanks for your example of faithfulness and righteous living. There isn't a person I can think of who is more deserving of all of blessings they receive than you are. The people there are so blessed to have you as part of their lives.

I miss hearing you laugh and I miss laughing at all your bad jokes- haha. I miss being around the dinner table for family dinner and it inevitably turning somewhat inappropriate and you would just shake your head, tolerating all of us. I miss coming home at night and seeing you sitting on your couch reading, and we would sit and talk for awhile. But soon enough we'll be able to do all those things again.

Glad we got to visit for a little while tonight on Skype, that was really nice to see and hear both of you. Too bad the connection was lost. We sure love and miss you and I can't wait for Emma to spend time with her G-Ma and G-Pa.

Love you Mom!!!!!

XOS,
G 

Happy Mother's Day!

Mom, thanks for the email!  I appreciate it.  I love you. I hope you are enjoying your Mother's Day. I'm sure it is different for you this year, but hopefully you know that we love and miss you.  I wish we could talk on the phone like all the other missionaries do!

I got some beautiful flowers for Mother's Day.  I just love these guys. It's a lot of fun raising them. Also, a lot of work! But I am so grateful to have these people in my life. Great kids!

So, Vienna finished up her soccer season.  They did a great job and she is really learning the sport!  It sure gets hot watching those games though.  I'm glad the season is over!  Reagan just swam in a a meet on Saturday and did very well. She shaved off some seconds on her backstroke and was excited about that.  Alex is on a sports break at the moment, but recently did two over-night camp-outs and is earning his merit badges.  One involved hiking in 4 miles with all his gear on his pack.  He came back a tired boy!

Finally, here are some photos of Trek!  What an experience that was!  We'll probably never do it again because I'm pretty sure we made our calling and election made sure with that one!  I wasn't expecting to help push/pull/drag that hand-cart so much, but our poor kids couldn't do it by themselves.  It was tough! Probably a little TOO tough if you ask me (and Rob).  But everyone survived.  No one was seriously injured, but our Stake President got himself dehydrated! Reagan's already said she'll go on the next one, so there was some fun to be had.  We had a great bunch of kids which made it much more enjoyable.  I can't say I got much sleep though.  It's tough when there's only about 2 inches of air between you and the cold, hard ground.  All in all, IF we were asked to do it again, I guess I wouldn't turn it down, but Rob would definitely take some convincing.  They killed us beforehand with endless "mandatory" meetings.  And would it hurt to pass out a little more food? Sheesh! You know you're hungry when home-made elk jerky tastes like manna from heaven!

Here are our kids! Cassidy, Sydney, Dory, Simon, Trevor, Nick and Joe. Trevor and Cassidy were my favorites, but you're not allowed favorites, right?!

Our camo wagon.

Early on Day 1.  Still can coax a smile from them.

A little while later.  Not as many smiles.  We were lucky and got a shady spot for 30 min.

Day 2. No sleep. Getting ready to make the nastiest stuff on earth: Corn Meal Mush. Not even honey and brown sugar can save that slop!

Day 3. Black powder rifle range.  I hit the bull's eye. No lie!

Day 3. Contra-band cell-phone during kids' solo time. I enjoyed a candy bar.

The Ma's and Pa's from our ward.  Yep, we all made it to the Celestial Kingdom.  Hope to see some of you there.  But only if you do a Trek.  :)

Day 4. Breaking down camp. Almost time to go home!

This was our "kitchen". Inspiring view, eh?

This was our cup tree.  We didn't really have any cupboards so the branches worked out nicely. You find out how resourceful you can be when push comes to shove.  Take the giant fish hook I found in a bag of rope and used to secure our tarp tent! That and the all-mighty duct-tape.

Lining up the companies for the last pull home. Someone looks a little grumpy.

Someone looks a little happier now that we're almost done!

We made it! Time to break down the wagon and eat!

Chowing down on some delicious food.  And I do mean DELICIOUS!! Deviled eggs anyone?

Yep, I'm cracking up.  Time to go....

Welp, that's that!  Hope you have a great week!!