We did it!

My car all decorated cute.
Van #2 - Carrie, Patty, Allison, Kris, Liz and myself
Mary passing off to Kris - that's the van exchange.
Kris passing off to Patty
Kris, Patty and Allison looking so lovely in the car.
Me, after I did my first leg. Don't I look hot??? (In more ways than one?)

In the middle of the night - again looking oh so lovely with a head lamp!
Kris after walking at about 2:30 am.
Van #1 - Susan, Temple (yes, that's her name - I kept calling her Twinkle though!), Angie and Mary - Allison and Lara in the background
Here I come!
Finished... and still alive!

We survived! 127 miles; 28 hours, 11 minutes, 48 seconds. Averaging a 13:16 minute mile - not me, mine is closer to 15 minutes... but we have some ladies on our team who are crazy (and have much longer legs than I do!) and walk about a 12 minute mile. We came in 33rd out of 145 female teams. We got no sleep - ok, maybe an hour, really doesn't count... does it? Smelled a WHOLE LOT!!! Ate a bunch of junk! And would we do it again... you betcha!

Lesson I learned this year though, training really helps! I wanted to do the last leg... the glory leg. Be the one to go into the beach, with all the cheers. But I tell you, by the time it got to the last leg, and everyone had already done their second leg, I so didn't want to do it! I was so tired and out of sorts. I just sort of strolled along. Probably about a 15 1/2 minute mile (5.25 miles), when my first round was closer to 14 minutes (4.89 miles). I was tired, sore, and having a problem breathing by the time I came in because I was so overwhelmed by the whole thing. But I'd still do it again... just remember the whole training thing!

Now, it's just on to Back to School Night (s - I've got two schools to go to), and then school starting next week. Still so much going on!

Off to the races!

It's nearing the end of August, which means... Hood to Coast! Hood to Coast is a giant running team race in which teams of usually 12 do an approxiamately 24 hour race that goes about 200 miles, from Mt. Hood to the coast of Oregon. As well as Hood to Coast, there is also Portland to Coast which is a walking race. It is a little bit after 9:00 am, and we are almost done with our third walker. As a team of 12, we will walk 127 miles starting at 5:45 this morning, going until about 10:00 tomorrow morning. I am in the second van and getting ready for my team to arrive. I will be walking a bit over 5 miles tonight around 6:00, and then I will be walking the last leg (another 5 miles) tomorrow morning which goes into the beach, with all the crowd cheering. It's really cool! What an adreneline rush! This is the second year that I've done this, and although it's a lot of work, we always have a great time! No sleep, lots of stinky women and tired feet. What's better than that?

Wish us luck! Goooo Happy Feet (that's our team name!)!!!!

Happy Birthday Grandma Paula (yesterday!)!!!

Sorry I'm a day late! We were thinking of you lots yesterday and hoping that you were having a great birthday! We love you and miss you tons!!!

(OK, this picture is from like 3 years ago, and it's a picture of a picture, but it's the best I could find on short notice.)

Love you mom!!!

Sugar overload.

So, it's early in the morning, and I am awake, about to head out to a doctor's appointment. With my last two pregnancies, I was diabetic so my doctor is sending me to the lab to do like a 5-hour glucose test (no, I'm not pregnant now!) to make sure that I'm not insulin-intolerant (something like that.). Lucky me! Those of you that know me, know that I LOVE sugar... and I HATE needles... so it's really a lose-lose situation for me! Oh well. Gotta stay healthy. Better to be safe, than sorry... right?

Lots of surprises at our house.

Ok, so last night I go in to use the bathroom, only to find Lightning McQueen drowning in the bottom of the toilet. Oh... the joys of having a little one in the house. When Chad was little, we moved into our house in L.A. and totally lost my house keys. About 2 (yes 2!) years later, Derrick was trying to potty train Chad and he noticed something shiny in the bottom of the toilet. Needless to say, we found my keys. They had been in the toilet for over 2 years, in the "S-pipe" thingy... the bendy part at the bottom that could easily hide things. They were yucky, the keyring had been eaten away, but they still all worked.

So then this morning I walk into the bathroom to find the cats playing with what I think is a toy mouse. Needless to say... not a toy... and very dead. Ok, I don't mind the "gifts" that cats like to bring, but my question is, these are indoor cats, so where did the mouse come from? See the concern here?

And besides that, why all the partying in our bathroom? Aren't there better rooms in our house for parties?

Bye Chad. Love you.

Yesterday morning. 5:00 am. Chad... ready for Scout camp. Doesn't he look excited? You would think that we were sending him off to his death or something. As fun and exciting as everyone has told him Camp Merriweather is, all he can think (and worry) about, is how will he ever sleep, not in his bed. Only time will tell! One of the leaders checked in yesterday afternoon and said that Chad was having a great time, but will have to see how the sleeping goes. Hopefully, considering he's been up since 4:30 in the morning, sleep will not be a problem!

Life as normal... almost.

Goooo Dodgers!!!

Well, camp ended on Saturday. There were 54 of us in the house for the week, and only some went home - including D... miss you D!!!! - and there's still like 30 of us here... so onto mini-camp now.


Saturday night Grandpa took all of us to see "Hancock" and then for pizza. Hancock was an interesting movie. Wouldn't recommend it for kids, but we didn't know that going into it. Oh well.

Monday found Uncle Bob taking a bunch of the kids, including Chad, to Magic Mountain. It was INCREDIBLY hot... and the lines were INCREDIBLY long... but Chad had a great time. He had never been there before, and is finally starting to appreciate roller coasters, so he loved every minute of it.


Monday night, 30 people were headed to the Dodger game. Dodgers' vs. Atlanta Braves, and the Dodgers' won! Yippee! Everyone had a great time... and I guess that when you buy 30 tickets at one time you are considered a group, so on the tickets it said "Huckvale Family Outing", and they even put it up on the big screen a bunch of times during the game. Everyone loved that!


Tuesday was a pool/hang out day. Our friend, Kathy Morrison, and her kids, Bailey, Shannon, McKenna and Evan, came over, as well as My Amanda, who I always enjoy seeing. We also lost 11 more of the family members on Tuesday. The house is getting more empty, but there are still a bunch of us here!


Wednesday Uncle Bob braved the amusement parks again. This time he took a group to Knott's Berry Farm. Luke went with him, and they all had a GREAT time! They had so much fun! It was much cooler, and much fewer people were there.


As well, Chad had his friend, Liam, come over. He's known Liam since the 1st grade, and although they don't talk that much during the year, every time they get together, it's like they've never been apart. What a great friendship they have!


Thursday was another hang at home day. Us women decided to work on our "savage tans" - yeah, right! - and basically just hung out at the pool, playing and having fun with the kids. Later in the day the kids decided to give us all pedicures with wonderful foot rubs which was very nice.


Friday was just a running around day. Picked up Liam again, did a bunch of errands, swam, played... and lost Bob and his kids. They headed back to Washington yesterday afternoon. Won't get there until sometime today, but they're on their way. And now it's Saturday, lost Susie this morning, so now it's just us and Christine and some of her kids and Jon and Nancy, but they all go home tomorrow. Chad and Luke are going over to Liam's house to play, and me and the girls are headed on a girl's day, going to the American Girl store at The Grove for a tea party. Will post pics later.

Friday Fun.

Friday morning found us at a "car show" - Grandpa's car show. You see, Grandpa Huckvale likes to "collect" classic cars (he's trying to emulate Jay Leno, I think... one of the cars even came from Jay Leno's garage!). Anyways, so we headed over to Grandpa's secret warehouse to check out his cars. He has 6 classic cars, and then two everyday cars... enough that there's one for each child.

Haley with Grandma's hat on.


Grandma, getting a "tan"!Our Chad in the back, little Chad and Justin in the front.

After the car show, it was on to Hurricane Harbor for a day of water slides, craziness and water fun. All had a good time, as we tried not to get too sunburned - considering we already were pretty burned from the beach.


And then, of course, being the 4th of July, fireworks with a bbq that night.

Olympics!

Nancy and Kayla in a heated Ping Pong game!
Macy, (little) Chad, Justin and Haley. Macy and Haley playing air hockey.
Nicole and Kayla making ribbon flip flops.

Kayla modeling her finished ribbon flip flops.

Thursday we stayed home! Yippee! Although we were crazy, busy with family Olympics! We had all sorts of competitions, run by Uncle Rick and Aunt Shannon, with all the rest of us being the judges and players. Aunt Shannon signed me up for shuffleboard, which I've never played before, and truly am not very good at (I'm not very good at cannon balls either, although I did beat out Heidi, so it counts for something!), and I was the judge for the Ping Pong tournament. Luke walked away with medals in under 12 Kids' air hockey, putt putt golf and something else and D won the medal for adult shuffleboard - such a varied group we have.

We also did some cute arts -n- crafts with the kids. A busy day for everyone.

That night at our "drive-in" theater we watched "Spiderwick Chronicles". Grandma ordered this HUGE Mickey Mouse inflatable screen that they put up on the sport court and each night we pull our air mattresses up there, make some popcorn, and watch movies. Lots of fun! Last night we watched "Watcher in the Woods" - an old Disney movie.

See the big Mickey screen? Isn't it cool????

Family sand day.

Reed just chillin'.
Chad, Luke and Hunter building sand tunnels.
Some of the girl cousins (and others!)- me (with Reed), Leslie, Lisa, Brandon, Sherri, Bob (I think), Heidi, Katie and Stacey
The whole gang - what a group!
D and all of his first cousins

Wednesday was beach day. We started out the day wearing our red "Huck Camp" t-shirts that grandma made for us, having our picture taken by a photographer in the backyard. Then we all headed to the beach where we met up with some of grandma's siblings and their families. I think that we figured there were now about 90 of us! They also got the white Disney shirts, so we took some more family pictures. What an amazing group!

Tuesday.

Tuesday was our Temple/Service day. All the youth eligible to go to the Temple, did, and we did Temple Baptisms. It was especially neat for us because now that Chad is 12, he was interviewed by our Bishop before we left, so he was able to go and do baptisms. And what was even better... he was able to perform the baptism for my dad, who died when I was 2. It was really neat and very special for me and very emotional for a lot of us. When Derrick was baptizing Chad, he was crying, and I was crying, and some of the rest of our family was crying. It was the first baptism that Chad did, and it will always be remembered!

Then, we stayed at the Temple for a while longer and were able to perform some other ordinances, including going thru the Temple with Kendra, who took out her endowments for the first time. Many firsts today!

The ones that stayed home did some service projects with grandma, and just played and swam and had a good day.

Then that night we all met up at a fundraiser for Buck McKeon (he's something for the state of California - and grandpa is a HUGE supporter of his... as well as a good friend)... but the reason we were all there is that Mitt Romney was the guest speaker. Oh, our nephew David was beside himself! He loves Mitt. I'm not political at all... but I must say that Mitt Romney is a very good speaker and I think that we all really enjoyed ourselves. It was nice because it was in someone's (giant) backyard, but there weren't that many people there (probably a few hundred), and David got to meet Mitt and have his picture taken with him and everything. This could be our future president, and we got to meet him and see him wearing jeans and a cowboy shirt. How strange is that?

Disney Days!

Us in front of the Haunted Mansion.
Uncle Rick, cousins Krista, Tara and Amy, and Aunt Terri
Reed, Haley and I with Pooh Bear
Haley and Reed enjoying some Mickey lollipops
Justin, Uncle Jeff, Kayla, Aunt Shannon, Aunt Christine, Austin, Uncle Donny, Cody, Tyler, Corey, Dakota and (Little) Chad

Monday we all headed to Disneyland. There are now 54 of us in total! Pretty awesome. Grandma got all of us Disney shirts to wear, and although they are white, it made it pretty easy to locate our groups. Just look for a group of people all wearing white shirts!

It was fairly warm, but not too busy, and we got to do everything we wanted. We even headed over to California Adventure and went on a bunch of rides over there. We took Haley on Soarin' Over California for the first time... and she didn't care for it too much! It made her really nervous. She really thought that we were going to fall in to the water.

Stinky part was my camera battery died half-way thru the day... so not too many Disney pics.

Sunday.

The circle surrounding Chad after they gave him his Priesthood.

He's hugging Grandpa in the back.

What a good looking bunch of men!

L-R: Ian (Kendra's husband), Uncle Rick, cousin Jon, Uncle Jeff (in the back), Uncle Donny, D, Chad, Grandpa, cousin Rob, cousin Tyler, Uncle Bob, cousin Cody and Uncle Duane. (Uncle Curtis missing - miss you Curtis! He's the Bishop in his ward, so they weren't able to come out until the next day.)

Grandpa giving Austin his "Eagle" award.

Last Sunday found us at Grandma and Grandpa's church for their services. They somehow seemed to think that we could sing, so they put us on the program as The Huckvale Family Singers (there were 41 of us there - we filled up their WHOLE choir section!), and we sang the "Sisters of Zion/Armies of Helaman" medley that is done at many EFY's (Especially for Youth). Oh, and did you know that one of Derrick's cousins' husbands put together that special arrangement? Very cool! We sang... and mind you, we are NOT the Osmonds... no where near... but we did a pretty good job... and Grandma was crying, so all is good!

That night we had our first family council. We all met on the sport court, and discussed the rules and regulations for Huck Camp. We then ordained Chad a Deacon, which was really cool. All the men that were able to were up there in his circle and D gave him a special blessing. It was really neat to see the Power of the Priesthood that we hold in our family. What an awesome experience to have so many of our men up there!


We were also able to present Austin with a special carved Eagle that grandma and grandpa had made for him because he earned his Eagle Scout award.

California or bust.

After driving about 17 1/2 hours on Saturday (two Targets, two Walmarts, 3 gas stops, 2 food - for those of you keeping track) - what seemed like FOREVER! - we arrived safely and soundly in Los Angeles for our week of "Huck Camp" - our family reunion. 53 of us all under one roof - Grandma and Grandpa's - for a week of fun, excitement and lots of family time... if we don't kill each other! :O) Just kidding! We love to see our cousins and are very excited to see how this week will play out. Will let you know.

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!