soda explosion

for sailor's 5th grade science experiment, she tested which soda
explodes the most after shaking it up. she had so much fun and
got very sticky! for the record, the sprite totally shot up and
almost hit her in the face when she took the lid off. the sprite won!

wasatch 100

it was time again for kendall to race in the wasatch 100 (running
100 miles up and down the utah mountains) we met him at mile
65 where he was not feeling well. todd cook also ran, so here we
are gathered around todd, marveling that he had been running
for 17 hours and was in such good spirits..................................


brighton bundled in her parka, it was cold up there in the mountains.


ashley helped pace her dad for one section of the race.


kendall's brother's showed up to give him support. he headed
straight for his truck when he got to the aid station. here they
are checking up on him, hoping he'll get feeling better soon.

nathalie

last month, nathalie, a member from the netherlands, came to
byu. we were lucky to have her hang out with us at lisel's b-day
party and we were lucky because she brought us a lot of holland
treasures from her sister, cate. (when jordan was in amsterdam,
he met cate. every week she would send us pictures or videos
of jordan...................they can be seen on the missionary blog).

boston loves

boston loves his dog. he loves it more than anything (besides
his mom!). anytime he is sad, ruff-ruff will make him happy.

boston also loves brighton. these pictures were taken just after

the dresser incident (see below) hence, the snotty noses..........

that was a close one

a few days ago i heard a loud noise followed by terrified crying.
i've never seen the twins so upset. they had gone to their room
to get dressed, pulled out every drawer, and climbed up onto their
5 ft. tall dresser only to have it tip over (which is what you see
behind them in the picture). don't ask me how they escaped with-
out getting smashed underneath. it was very scary. don't forget
to secure your furniture to the wall. keep those little ones safe!

sailor federer

sailor started playing tournaments again (now that i am up and
running). after her match last saturday we had to take advantage
of roger, i mean, who could resist? i'm sure the tournament people
thought we were weirdos but we thought it was hilarious! she plays
again on friday...you just might catch me doing this same thing!

journal entry: grass

while in the hospital, i felt so lousy for the first few days, i didn't
care for visitors. after a few days i really missed my kids. they
had come in to see me but i think i looked so scary, they were
really uncomfortable. boston is the only one who would stand by
me and hold my hand for as long as i wanted. the other kids
would gravitate to the window and they would only stay a short
while.
(please excuse my rambling, i really feel like i need to journal this)
on day 6 i was missing them like crazy. they all came to see me.
christian and my mom were already at the hospital keeping me
company, and then joe and the kids came. we decided to venture
outside with me in the wheelchair........just to feel the heat of that
summer day and to breathe fresh air was enough for me. i was
content to just feel the brightness and warmth. (we were in the
back of the hospital with a beautiful grass lawn, a pasture with
horses and a great view of timp). joe pushed me down the path
while christian pushed my i.v. stand with boston & brighton
standing on the base of it getting a ride! every bump was painful
but it was worth it. at that moment i wished i had a camera....mom
being pushed in the wheelchair by dad, 3 big kids trailing behind,
twins on the i.v. stand being pushed by uncle chris and grandma
pam pointing out the scenery.

we ventured over to the fence to see the horses and then stopped
at the edge of the grass and watched the kids play and do really
bad gymnastics on purpose (wondering if patients were looking
out their windows watching some really uncoordinated kids. it was
funny and it hurt to laugh). i let my feet settle into the grass and
words cannot describe the feeling--i don't want to forget that
feeling.............to feel grass, nature, the earth, was so incredible
(let me remind you i had already been on the couch at home for
3+ weeks so it had been a while since i had felt grass), if i could
have gotten out of my wheelchair and rolled around on the grass,
i would have in a heartbeat. i wanted to lay on the grass and make
angels like kids do in the snow.

just last night i was at sailor's soccer game and i stuck my barefeet
into the grass. i was reminded of this story and i hope that from
now on, whenever i plant my feet into green grass, i will always
be grateful for that day and that experience in the hospital. x0x0

preeschool with miss sherry

i've been dreading this day for 3 1/2 years. brighton & boston
started preschool this week! luckily, they were happy to go,
otherwise i would have really lost it! i'll admit it, i got teary but
what can i do? for 2 1/2 hours, twice a week, i miss them terribly.

i loooooooooove it when they hold hands.

for 3 days i searched all of utah valley and the internet for

backpacks. i've always vowed to not do tacky backpacks.

why is every cute backpack not made big enough for paper?

i had no choice and they looooooooooooooooove them. here

they are walking to miss sherry's preschool. it took every-

thing i had to not sneak into the backyard and watch them

through the window--i wonder if miss sherry would mind.

another kind of zoo

dressing up in these silly costumes is one our our kids favorite
things to do. i think i have a picture of each kid dressed in each
one and then they parade around the neighborhood being silly!

haunted house

sometimes my kids think our house could be a fantastic haunted
house......for some reason, we have bats show up every once in a
while. hmmm..................................................maybe it is haunted.
joe's come a long way from the days of putting a laundry basket
on his head and screaming like a little girl, now he just needs a
butterfly net! (although he still does scream like a little girl!)

zooooooooo

before school started we took the kids to the zoo. joe pushed me
around in a wheelchair-not a bad way to do the zoo! the kids
loved the lion drinking fountain....................what kid doesn't?!