Our new little man.

Before.

Gotta love those lollipops. Problem with them is, by the time he was done, he was covered in lollipop with hair stuck all over him!
After. What a cutie!

It was finally time for Reed to get his first haircut. He had more hair now than Chad had at the age of two... if you can believe that. So, Chad and I took Reed to Great Clips. The lady asked me how I wanted it cut, and I said, "Shorter... but not short." Easy enough, right? Well, she's doing a good job, and is almost finished, until she cuts her finger. Pretty good, I might add. She goes off to clean it, get a band-aid, and whatever, and when she comes back, she just keeps cutting and cutting and cutting. So, there go all of Reed's cute curls. He looks good... but it's way shorter than I wanted it to be. Oh well. D has bad feelings about Great Clips anyway. Don't think we'll be going there anymore. Reed did really like all the lollipops though.

Uncle Billy visits.

Look who came to see us. Granted, it was only for a couple of hours... but it was still great to see him! We love you Uncle Billy and hope that you can visit more often! The basement is now painted, so it will soon be ready for you!

I just dropped my son off at Mutual.

Chad had me straighten his hair on the last day of school as a joke. Look how long it is! Totally long in the back. It was really tripping him out that it was cut all layered.

Oh my gosh! I can't believe I have a child old enough to be in Mutual! (Mutual is the youth group for the "teenagers" in our church. 12-18 years old. Ok, so Chad really isn't a teenager yet, more like a "tween-ager", but still... he's that old!) So I just dropped him off there... for an activity with boys AND girls! Can you believe it?



Turning 12 in our church also means that he will now be able to hold the Priesthood. He will now be Deacon. He will be able to pass the Sacrament. Next week, while we are at our family reunion, he will be able to do temple baptisms. (He's already gotten his first "temple recommend"!) Just amazing stuff!



Does anybody remember that day, 12 years ago, when we welcomed our first child into the world? 8:01 am. 9 pounds, 3 ounces (can you believe that?). Bouncing bundle of wonderful baby boy. Besides D and myself, my mom and my Uncle Billy were there (and then a bunch of missionaries!). It was so exciting! We were a family! And now, 12 short years later, we have 5 of those bouncing bundles. Boy, time sure does fly!



We are so grateful for this bouncing bundle. He is such a great kid! He is smart and kind, although him and Luke do butt heads quite often. He LOVES his baby brother, Reed, and would do anything for him, and Reed totally is "Mini-Me Chad." He is SOOOO creative, and loves to make movies. Besides Star Wars, he is "passionate" about Indiana Jones and G.I. Joe - see... broadening his horizons a bit. He is a good friend and very loyal to the few that he chooses to keep close to his heart. We know that he is truly a gift to us and we are trying our hardest to take the best care of him possible.



We love you Chad and hope that you have the best birthday! Thank you for letting us be your parents!

Our last day of school.

This is when we first got there. LOTS of more people came. We had this whole area covered up with families. It was really fun!
Julia, Macy, Sierra and Alina - these are her best friends. All from church, but unfortunately go to a different school.

Yesterday was our last day of school. After awards ceremonies, getting yearbooks signed, and giving some farewell hugs, it's time to play! It's not 90 degrees here, like it is in L.A., so it's kind of weird that it's "summertime", but it's still nice to be off - no schedule, no homework, just lazy fun times.


So, tradition here is for a bunch of people from church to meet at the river for a picnic on the last day of school. We drove out to this river, about 15 minutes away, and were amazed to see our own little "beach". It was great! And lots of people came, so we had our own end of the year party. Wasn't warm enough to swim, but that didn't stop anyone from getting their feet wet, playing games, and just enjoying each other's company.

Oh my gosh... and can you believe it? We now have a 7th grader, a 5th grader and a 3rd grader! Still two more not quite in school... but gosh, I'm feeling old!

Special Shout Out to Jenny & Tara!

Aunt Susie, Jenny, Uncle Bob, Robby and Annie
Macy, Me and Jenny

Just wanted to give a shout out to Jenny and Tara, two of our niece's who graduated from High School this year. Tara graduated from Oldham County High School in Kentucky, and Jenny graduated from Hayes Freedom High School, here in Camas. Macy and I were able to go to Jenny's graduation, and we just wanted to let both of them know how proud we are of them! It was great to be at Jenny's graduation! She sang the national anthem (what an amazing voice she has!), and she gave the class farewell speech. She did an awesome job, and I was such a proud aunt! Wish we could've been at Tara's as well. We are so happy for both of you and look forward to seeing what you do with your amazing futures! From my high school graduation, "the future's so bright... you gotta wear shades!" We love you guys!

Our basement.

Ok, so for those of you dying to see how our basement is turning out... here it is.

This is the main living space. It will be a playroom when all is done. I'm hoping to get cubbies or something and moving the majority of the kids' toys down here. For now, the area where everything gets dumped. Notice the air hockey table upside-down on the couch?
Ok, so this is currently the bone of contention. The picture above is from the entryway to our new media room. Notice the nice square on the wall? As of yesterday, that was a pass thru in the wall that Derrick then decided didn't make any sense, so he covered it up. Our dry wall guy is going to show up tomorrow to find a covered up patch, and wait for it... what else did D do? See below... He decided that we needed a half wall that will be turned into a bar where we can place stools below it. At least he's handy... even if he is somewhat crazy. The doorway that I am standing in front of is going into the media room, then that bar area will have cabinets to house the popcorn machine, microwave, refridgerator, etc... and the door behind leads into the bathroom.
Picture of the media room/guest room. No light in there yet, so not the best pictures.

Bathroom. Shower in the corner. All the plumbing is run, but we can't install anything until the walls are done. They should be done this week.
Chad's brand new room. This makes up the space where we showed the first pics of the guys digging all the mud. New room. Walls all blue, except for the one where D is going to paint some sort of Star Wars mural.

Otherwise, we think we're almost done. We head to L.A. in 3 weeks, and I hope to have it all painted by the time we leave. (I have to do the painting, with whomever I can draft, so we'll see how long it really takes!). Then, when D gets back from L.A., he can put the trim in and hopefully get it carpeted. Yahoo! Almost done!!! Will post more pics as it gets closer.

Scouts.

Chad earned his Second Class ranking in Scouts the other night and we are very proud of him! He is one step away from First Class, and has also just finished his Faith in God award. He will be twelve in a few weeks and therefore will be moving into official Boy Scouts (not cute Cub Scouts anymore), so there were all these pieces we had to get finished up. We love you Chad!!!

Oh Canada.

Our last stop before sailing home was Prince Rupert, Canada. Not a very exciting place, I'm sorry to say, but still quite beautiful. While we were there we went for a river float on the Skeena River. It was nice. Very relaxing, and we didn't have to do any of the work. Then we walked around town a bit. They have LOTS of totem poles everywhere. Not quite sure why... but if you get any of their tourist maps, it marks where all of them are. Must be the only tourist attraction there, or something. And there were also TONS of Eagles. Again, not sure why, but they were amazing! We also stopped for some Tim Horton donuts - a favorite of D's while he was in Nova Scotia on his mission... ooohhhh, and Poutine, a Canada thing. French Fries with cheese melted all over them, covered in gravy. Ok, so not good for the arteries.... but soooooo yummy!

Talk about ice cubes.

(Ok, so first off, I have to say that we got a new laptop and the space bar doesn't always work and it's driving me crazy. I have to double-check every thing I write to make sure it puts the spaces in. I've already had to fix it three times!)

Back to Alaska... the next day, Tuesday, found us sailing up (in?) Tracy Arm Fjord. Really beautiful and amazing, and like 40 gajillion ice cubes. We were in our room, looking at the TV which shows out the boat, and D thought that there were little boats around us, until we got outside and saw what it really was. Apparently, we were headed in as close as we could get to see a glacier, but the "ice cubes" started to get too big and to be too much so we had to turn around. Really amazing though.

Later that day we took part in the beanbag tournament and D totally got robbed on the gold medal! He just missed it by one point!!!