Emma's Front Tooth

Emma lost her front tooth last week. She will be able to sing, "All I want for Christmas is my little front tooth." She may lose the other one before the 25th... wait and see!

Camping Camping Camping

The month of June 2011 was SCOUT CAMP SCOUT CAMP SCOUT CAMP CUB CAMP CUB CAMP too. With a home full of boys - we definitely got our fill of camp! PLUS we threw in a few extra boys! (Emma and I did survive!)

Logan and Mason (April & Brent's sons) came for a visit. They came during our camp month and Logan was able to participate in the week-long camp with Glenn, Ben and Zach.

They did anything from horseback riding (where we found out Ben is allergic to horses), archery, guns, canoe, 1st aid (came in handy for the horseback riding incident), astronomy, etc etc. They also ate well too.

 Logan is on the left - not sure what's going on?

 Logan during instructional time.

 Zach examining a fish!

Ben, BEFORE, he realized he was allergic to horses!

While the older boys were at camp, the rest of us just hang out at home and went swimming and played video games... I am still looking for these pictures! Hhhmmm...

A week later, Nick went to Webelos Camp.

And a week later, Chris went to Cub Camp.

It was a very very productive month of June in our home. Emma and I just packed and re-packed the campers as they came and went... And actually, the "campers" pretty much did everything on their own! Thanks Guys!

A Wedding This Summer

In July (this past summer), one of Glenn's many cousins was getting married in St. Louis. Stu Thomas was at medical school and met a wonderful gal named Barb (who is from the Midwest). They decided to get married in the St. Louis Missouri temple.

At the time, Clark and Melanie (Glenn's sister and husband) were living near St. Louis, so we thought we'd make the roadtrip. It was about 10-hours and Melanie was right on the way. (Clark had to work so we picked-up Mel and away we went.)

Since we are a family of seven we need to rent two hotel rooms whenever we go out. (We can't sneak any one in anymore; they are getting WAY TO BIG!) So, it was easy to throw Mel in to the mix - she was a GOOD SPORT - hanging out with all of us in a hotel room for three days and two nights. We were grateful that the hotel had a pool and weightroom... and most of the time we were at wedding festivities.

(Cousin Karren and Zach, Nick and Ben)

After the festivities were over we decided to take a quick roadtrip to Nauvoo Illinois. It is only about 3-hours off the path. In Nauvoo Illinois there is much church history. We had an excellent time learning about the pioneers in the 1830s... all the many trials they went through.

Here's a photo of us all walking down the street that led the pioneers to the river, where they crossed and left Nauvoo on their journey West.

(Ben, Aunt Mel, Zach, Chris, Nick, Emma Lee and Cindy)

School Year Is Ending

Well there aren't many more days of school left. (I think maybe 11 or so.) I have been asked numerous times this past school year, "Cindy, what have you been doing with all your extra time now that ALL your children are in school?"

Answer: Well, pretty much the same things that I did before BUT not with any helpers! It was a tough year; I sure miss my Emma Lemma! But, life continues on and things do change for the better.

This afternoon I decided that I better get some shopping done (mainly Costco) so I don't have to make any BIG trips to the store during summer break. None of us like to go shopping. I like to on-line shop and I do like to go to the grocery store and Costco (food issues with me). BUT, none of my kids do.

I went over to Sprouts like I do nearly every Wednesday. On the way out I was listening to some women talk about the "new" Wal-mart that just opened today. It is about 1 mile from Sprouts, on my way home - so I thought... hmm... they may have some good deals. I don't have any children with me... I should stop by. I could at least check-out the parking situation, how to get in and out of the place, etc. And, if there is a place close to the front, I will park.

I drove past the front of the store and right dead-center a car was backing out. I thought, what the hay... I have about a 1/2 hour to kill. It was 1:57 pm when I walked into the store and a tall, well-dressed lady welcomed me and gave me a raffle ticket. She said that they would be calling out numbers at 2pm... "listen for the numbers" she said!

I went over to the lotion counter to get some sunscreen for the kids and over the announcements they started to read numbers. 5 - 1 - 6... I looked at my ticket and sure enough I had 516. I went up to the front of the store. Many people were gathered and I looked everyone over pretty good; I did not know anyone (I don't think). So, I just stood there and they offered me a chance to step inside a cash machine and grab as much cash as I could in 10 seconds.

Why not! So... of course I did it! I picked up $12 and said Thank You and departed the store.

And this folks is what I do "with all my extra time" and "when all my kids are in school!" Anyone want to come join me... I'll be at the next grand opening of some random store!

Oh No!

Before I got this...

I was able to plant these...



I have been running for the past few months with a stress fracture in my left heel. I did not think it was much, for I was able to run comfortably! But each evening I would have the hardest time walking (heel-striking). After about 3 months of increasing pain I decided to go to the doctor. (I know I waited waaaaay to long.) He told me that I could either have a cast or a boot. (It was nice that he gave me a choice.) I chose the boot for it is removable to shower and to sleep! :) Hopefully in 1 month the boot will be history!

Green Thumb?

Green Thumb? I don't know quite yet, but we sure are trying.

We have some green beans with blossoms right now. But the peas are being run-out by the green beans; I think they'll hang-on. They have blossoms too.

We also have quite a few tomato plants with fruit (I am happy to say)! Last year we had plants but no fruit! Boo.

The red potatoes look GREAT on top so I hope that means underground things are cooking. And the lettuce is nice and bright about the size of silver dollars - a few more days on that.

Now the three pepper plants are being attacked by bugs... not sure what to do here. The cucumbers are next to the pepper plants and they are doing just fine. Apparently the bugs enjoy peppers!

I am documenting all this because currently the skies are looking kinda' mean and we are in a thunderstorm watch. That is very common here, so no big WHOOP! It has been in the 90s the past few days with the humidity close to 80+... just kinda' nasty. So, a BIG storm could be coming. And if there's hail (the size of golf balls) at least I'll have nice memories of the Garden Of 2011! :)

End of March in to April

Who's Who?

It's been a crazy few weeks. As I download all the photos on the camera I sure want to make some notes about all the pictures! Time sure is moving quickly!

Regional Meet

Nicholas competed in his final gymnastics meet this year. It was held in Austin Texas earlier this month. Nick placed 12th overall in this year-end Regional Meet. (Our Region consists of Kansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Texas.)

Below is his pommel horse routine; he tied for 1st. He also tied for 5th on the rings. He placed 3rd on the high bar. It was a TOUGH day; it seemed as if the judges "cut him" by about 1.5 points overall - meaning that he could have placed in the Top 5! (Coach felt as if he had a few unfair ratings, but that's part of life and growing up.)

District Track

Ben ran District Track this year as a 7th grader!!! I guess that's pretty good. He ran against a bunch of 8th graders. Let's just say he didn't come in last, but he was near the end! ;) It was a great experience to run against all these big guys! We (and so is coach - he told me in an e-mail) are excited to see what next year will bring. We all think he has some good running genes and is capable of LOTS! Pressure's on Ben!

Salt Lake City

Each year when there is someone celebrating an 8th birthday in our home we have this WONDERFUL TRADITION! The following April this person goes to General Conference (worldwide church meeting held 2x a year). After Conference they then get to go skiing for two days! It's been fun and we can't believe that ALL the boys got to go this year!

WOW - In 2006 Glenn started this tradition with Ben. Then in 2008 he took Zach and Ben. Nick joined the team in 2010. This year Glenn took Chris, Nick, Zach and Ben! We ALL (girls included) thought about going, but it really has been a special time for Glenn to take each of the boys.

They participated in the Priesthood Session on Saturday night. (They will allow 8-year old boys to enter the Conference Center Saturday night.) Then on Sunday morning they went to sit in the Tabernacle (historical building) to listen to the morning conference and in the afternoon they went back to the Conference Center for the last meeting.

On Monday morning, bright and early, they went up to Alta... all had a Great Time! They did not want to go back to the hotel! But when the slopes closed, they had to! :) Tuesday morning, back at it! We have four skiers who want to move to Utah; we are thinking that Colorado would be more desirable! More on that later...

And the girls... we went to The American Girl Doll Store! Need I Say More! Emma is already planning our next visit... probably during the Father & Sons Campout that is coming up in May!

Chris, Nick, Ben and Zach