Yes, Virginia, there really is beauty in Idaho!

These are just a few scenic shots of Mackay, Idaho. I've never really found Idaho to be a lovely place, but now I know why Mom and Dave got a place there. It's pretty! And who doesn't love riding a four-wheeler to the grocery store???

New Pics of the kids and an experiment

Mike happened to be walking past and I told him to stop and be in the pic--the overall effect wasn't what I wanted, but the smile on Mike's face is. That's the kind of smile I have trouble getting from him when I take his pic alone. But that's a real smile, and it's for Emily!


They all need some more editing, but I wanted to put something up on the blog that was cheerful.
PS thanks for all your love and support and kind words. I can't say how much I appreciate it. Really.

Not REALLY a pity party

still no pictures. I've had a setback trying to find a drug to manage the pain without killing the rest of me. It's been pretty dark in my prison bed lately. I have lost a lot of weight, but that is not really worth it, when it feels like I've lost a lot of days and weeks too. Days just gone that can't be redone or gotten back. Christmas seems like a particularly cruel time to be in this position. I'm thinking there will be no cards or pithy comic book letter this year. there will also be no chocolates, even though the cute little take out boxes were bought months ago. The house will only get partially decorated. Thank goodness for internet shopping. So, just when you think this is a pity party for me that you didn't want an invitation to, I hope that I can share some things I've learned this weekend.




*We all have to make choices. For one, is the end goal ( to live with God again) worth the price we have to pay? I think so. I really really hope so.
*Stuff like this, in one shape or another, happens to everyone.
*There's stuff we're supposed to learn.
*We're supposed to endure it well and bare it cheerfully. Haven't figured out how yet. Let me know if you already have.
*Apparently, we forget things we already knew. Like how bad stuff eventually gets better. I seem to recall that that has happened in the past, but it doesn't seem to apply now.
*As much as I hate depending on other people, it seems to be part of the learning process. I don't even want anyone else picking up or dropping off my children, but I don't have a choice and by the way, I am grateful.
*Who you marry is just about one of the most important things you can decide in this life. Thank you, Mike. I can't type much more for crying.

So, until I learn some more or someone else logs on to blog, I'll wave to you from my hospital bed covered in pink princess sheets in the middle of my living room.

NO PICTURES BUT YOU HAVE IMAGINATION, DON'T YOU?

I am using our new laptop, which we were going to get anyway, but my dumb accident hastened. Eventually I will get so I can get pics from the network, but I will probably be able to get downstairs easier before that happens. Soon I will post pics of my new turtle shell (back brace) and my sweet hospital bed and walker (borrowed from a generous Crae and Laurie). And even though this blog (and life in general) is all about me, I will post pics of the kids and blog some about our fun outing to Mackay. There were moments during the last three weeks (lucid ones, mind you) where I thought alot about being on the receiving end of service, about faith, and about grace. Then I'd realize that they were too personal to share yet. Mere words cannot express the gratitude I feel for everyone who's helped me. I'm still ashamed about how much some of you have helped me and I feel that I don't dare talk to you until I pay you back or figure some way to properly thank you. Or at least be able to not cry when I think about it.
I guess my plan to be humble enough without the Lord's help to avoid having trials had it's flaws....:)

Black Island Farms Fun

This is Emily enjoying the big slide.
And Tate doing the same...
Hayden waiting for the hydraulic corn gun man.
I wasn't even trying to capture this, but as I was taking it, they announced the pig races, and he was pretty excited...
"Get back in the maze so I can get a picture!" "smile. stop touching each other. scoot in"
The hay ride was missing the hay.....but it was still fun. Tate is not an adventurous soul. He kept telling the driver to slow down and be more careful. It was funny and embarrassing at the same time.
Mike and Emily picking out pumpkins.
Tate waiting for the Great Pumpkin, or the guy with the utility knife to cut his pumpkin. Either one.


We went out to Syracuse to Black Island Farms. It was a great time. Next time I'll post videos of the corn guns, the pig races and what the kids liked best. The slides were pretty cool and the pigs were pretty cute. It was a good day.
Conference was great too, wasn't it? It's good to know what exactly to work on for the next bit, even if self-improvement isn't super fun. It's more fun to improve someone else, isn't it???? Just kidding. Mostly.

Did we really have a summer? Really?

These are not exactly stellar photos. However, you can probably guess that my children were not in the mood to stand still for a photo. "I'M GOING TO BE LATE!!!", they shout.
We try to take the first day seriously, we try to leave lots of extra time, we try to make it special, but I have not gotten the hang of it. I guess I have five more tries with Hayden. YIKES. That's not long at all. Sigh. Is it better to commemorate and think too much in the process, or to slide through life and not have sad thoughts? I haven't decided. I guess I have done some of both.
Anyway, the kids are growing. Maybe on Tuesday morning, I'll pretend it's the first day and take better pics..........

Ode to our late van.

This is the side that got smashed while we were spinning around. The door no longer closes.


This is the side the at-fault driver hit. (I'm so p.c.) That is the back bumper on top of the van, and there is no glass in the sliding door window. The pictures don't do it justice. They don't show the smell of gas (still!) nor all the wasps that moved in while it sat here. THAT was fun.


so now to the ode. Oh van, we loved your eight seats, your power sliding door, your cupholders, and your huge gas tank. We loved your great gas mileage (hey, everything beats the Explorer), your trip odometer, your mileage and compass and temperature display. We loved your clean carpet and brakes. Ah, we will miss you.

A select few photos from WA

So I decided to come back to the funeral pictures later. I think we took about 500 pictures on our trip to Washington to see my family. I'm not exaggerating. It took a while to upload from our camera. So these are just a few of the delights. In a few days I'll post the before and after pics of our late, departed van.

A sad reason for a fun reunion.

On Monday, we went to Orem and Provo for the funeral of Mike's grandma, Rosalind Bandley. It was a very nice, very moving service. My favorite part was that all of Mike's siblings were together for the first time in four years. I enjoy watching them enjoy each other's company and watching cousins chase around. Outside the church, of course. Chasing inside isn't reverent. :) I have more, but that will have to wait until next time. Lots of pics to share.

The Zoo and Hayden leaves the house!

This was an accident, but it looks like Hayden has long Mike Meyers hair! (It's really Emily)

the baby giraffe we all wanted to see

Tate wanted a lot of pictures taken of himself

this is the after picture. Tate's only annoyed because this is the fourth try for a picture.

The sprinklers were on at the park.
Hayden happened to be upstairs at the moment and was persuaded to leave the house and go get wet with Tate. It was a lovely spontaneous moment. When I say "happened to be upstairs", it's because he's been in the basement, on the computer, playing some game I don't care about for so many days now. A power outage might be just the thing......

We did the Zoo very quickly on Saturday (sorry no time for visits) because the weather was so cool and pleasant. Sadly the weather will not stay that way....

I'm not so clever.

So many of you have enjoyed Mike's imagination-interactive post that I know I can never top that. So I will not compete. That's how I roll. If I can't win, I won't play. Just kidding. sort of. So we don't have any pictures from our last two swimming trips because the camera doesn't belong in the water, and Tate doesn't belong in the water unless I'm right next to him, in the water. Which is why I am sunburned, despite my children's best efforts. They do pretty well, but there are always strange-shaped sunburn spots on my back. Ah, summer. Also I didn't take a pic of us hitting the garage sales this morning. We all found some kind of treasure. I found two upholstered armless chairs. They were sturdy and the springs were good. They had clean lines, so covering them in new fabric won't be a problem. I was stunned to find they were $1 each. I grabbed them and threw them in the van. On the way home I think I figured out why they were only $1......the smell was overpowering. We had to open all the windows. So it looks like I will have to slice them open and strip them down to the springs, cover with new muslin, padding, muslin and fabric. Which is more than I had intended to do. Now mind you, I will not back down from this challenge, although it must get in line with all the other half-finished projects. Perhaps the smell will bump them up in line some. They can't sit behind the house forever. See, I told you that I'm not so clever.

Salt Lake Bees vs. Colorado Springs Sky Sox vs. Camera at Home

So, we went to the Salt Lake Bees game tonight. It was fun. We like to go to at least one baseball game a year, just for the experience. We used to go to games in Calgary (usually when they played against Salt Lake) and we go to Ogden Raptors games sometimes as well. This particular game went into extra innings, but only the 10th. No one even scored in the game until the Bees scored 2 in the 7th, Colorado Springs scored 2 in the 8th, then sadly Colorado scored 1 in the 10th, winning the game 3-2.

Anyway, we forgot the camera, so this is a Use Your Imagination post. Just pretend that the following photos actually exist. Enjoy.

[Photo of all the family smiling, sitting in a row in the ballpark]

[Photo of baseball players on the field starting the game]

[Photo of the Bees mascot entertaining kids]

[Photo of the visiting San Diego Chicken entertaining kids]

[Photo of the visiting San Diego Chicken beating up Barney the Dinosaur]

[Photo of the kids looking tired later on in the game with Tate on Mike's lap instead of in his own seat]

[Video of us singing during the 7th inning stretch followed by commentary about how it would be funny if we sang "The Good Old Hockey Game" song instead]

[Photo of the kids eating purple cotton candy]

[Photo of the scoreboard ending the game after 10 innings]

[Video of the kids running around the bases on the field after the game]

I hope you enjoyed the imaginary photos and videos of the game just as much as we enjoyed being there. Next time I'll have to try this type of post for my fishing trips.

The lovely colors of summer.

Ok this makes twice I've accidentally deleted a picture and it takes so freaking long for the pictures to upload that I feel like screaming. I feel all cranky now. I'm not going to retrieve the missing ones. Here are some pictures. I was going to say how much I love color and all that. How my favorite color is lots of color. How these pictures are a portion of the colors I love about summer. And how I didn't take a picture of the lobster red of the back of my neck. Bah. dumb computer.

Hayden at Scout Camp

Hayden is at Scout camp right now. He went Monday (yesterday). I drove him and several other boys up in the van. 250 miles with a van full of scouts is quite the adventure in and of itself. It's Camp Loll, located a whole 2 miles south of Yellowstone and 4 miles north of the Tetons in the middle of nowhere. It's a beautiful spot. I stayed overnight and most of this morning, then came home today. So I took some photos in between swatting mosquitoes (I'm sure Tonya is jealous that she missed those) while I was there.

Let's start with Hayden in camp as we were just moving things in from the trucks and trailers (yes, he was helping, he just happened to be sitting when I took the picture).

Shortly after arrival, the scouts had to do a swim check in the ice cold lake. Lucky them! Here they are eating quesadillas quickly before heading down to the lake for aquatics orientation.

Arrival at the waterfront gate (a photo which I will not rotate, in keeping with Tonya's work on the blog). ;-)

There were a lot of canoes stacked up by the lake. Some of them have stickers on them going back quite a few years. There's a lot of history at this camp since it has been around since 1960, if I recall correctly.

The end of the lake. It's really pretty. And cold.

It rained a couple of times very lightly. Suddenly the sky darkens, everyone throws on rain gear, it rains for 20 minutes, then it's nice again. Fortunately, the mosquitoes disappear during the rain.

Hayden this morning shortly after waking up remarkably cheerful.

Hayden cooking the hash browns for breakfast, along with which they also had French toast, sausages, chocolate milk, and orange juice. These boys are not suffering for food. They are eating very well thanks to Bro. Greenhalgh from the ward. He's great at organizing the cooking.

Chess and Stratego have been in use quite a bit. Notice the nice screen canopy to keep out the mosquitoes. Stupid mosquitoes.

And lastly, here's a campfire from last night so you can pretend you're at camp, too. I was sad to leave and come home.