Old Family Pictures

But new to all of you. Taken a little before Garrett left on his mission. So blessed to have this crew in my life.

Photo credits to Dani Hamblin, she did a great job!

Called to Serve!!

Well actually he has been out a year, but as everyone knows I am behind on my blog by about 3 1/2 years. This fun loving kid is loving life in Brazil! We are extremely proud of him and his accomplishments and he continues to amaze us in his growth while serving. I can't wait for Monday to come every week so I can read his letters. Miss him lots, love him more.

Back in School

So today is the beginning of my next phase in life. My baby went to school today, I can hardly believe it. I secretly hoped that this day would never come. What will I do now you ask? I have no idea. Well anyhow enough about me, Garrett is a Junior this year (something else I can hardly believe), Hailey is a Freshman, Chase is in 5th Grade, Carson in 3rd and Jacob is in Kindergarten (all grown up).

My fantastic five all ready for school.

5th, 3rd and Kindergarten

Jacob and Ms. Carlo

Carson and Ms. Kennaugh

Chase and Mrs. Goldberg

Everyone came home happy and ready to go back to school tomorrow. And me well it is Monday and I am still working on the laundry :).

Oh and BTW in case you are all wondering why suddenly I have posted on my blog after all this time, well when they called Trent to be bishop they decided to release me as seminary teacher and now I have a little bit of time on my hands again.

Summer is officially over!

At least in my house as school started today. So with that said I guess I had better recap the summer.

Summer started off with YM high adventure. Garrett and Trent both went on this little team building trip. Actually the entire stake went this year and they separated the boys all into teams and then they had to do certain tasks or use their boys scout skills I should say to gain points. Some things they had to do; build a raft and get all the boys across a pond (I think), learn to rope a calf, build catapults (for water balloon launching), they rode mountain bikes and a whole lot of other things. Needless to say a good time was had by all. No pictures sorry I wasn't there.

Jubilee came next. This was a regional thing that all the youth 14 and up were able to participate in. There was dancing and singing, tumbling and fiddling. And both Garrett and Hailey were very involved. Hailey was asked to tumble in two of the special numbers that were done and Garrett was part of the fiddle ensemble. The fiddling number was a big crowd pleaser, I have to say they sounded awesome. They practiced and learned their parts for over 6 months. Then all of the jubilee events took place over three days with the final day being where they performed, not once, not twice, but three times. It was quite a weekend.

(3 of the fiddlers) Sarah, Garrett (isn't he handsome) and Megan

Next was girls camp, yes by this time it is the last couple of days of June and first of July and yes we still live in Texas, so yes it was very hot. Both Hailey and I got to attended together this year. A lot of fun was had as the girls testimonies grew about who they are and their royal heritage.

Allen 5th ward bunch

With less than a 24 hour turn around we were out the door and on our way to Utah. Spent a couple of weeks there visiting with my family. Garrett went to soccer camp at BYU, we also made a short road trip up to Idaho to visit my Dad and Trent's Aunt Paunie and Uncle Larry.

Trip up to Kennecott, Also visited a life size replica of the "UP" house

Our road trip continues, as next we jumped in the car and headed for L.A. where we spent the night with Trent's sister Becky and then flew off to Hawaii. This had to be the highlight of the summer. We first visited the island of Oahu. We rented a house on the North Shore right on Sunset Beach. We snorkeled, body boarded at many the beach, Pearl Harbor and of course we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. After of week there we flew into Hilo to enjoy some time on the 'Big island", Hawaii. Here we hiked to several waterfalls, did more snorkeling, saw black sand beaches and lots of sea turtles, gathered a rather large collection of coconuts, and visited Volcano National Park.

Polynesian Cultural Center and the Laie Temple

Sunset Beach

Sea Turtles and Punalu'u Beach

Coconut gathering at Punalu'u and Volcano Crater

Pu'uhonua o Honaunau and Climbing the Banyun Trees

ALOHA

Last stop for the Summer Ojai CA. for the Thomas' Family Reunion. A Great way to end the trip. Uncle Chet taught the crew how to surf, this was a hit. Hailey was the only successful surfer in our family. We pick oranges, swam, played volleyball, and last but not least spend quality time with the family. Tyler, Grandma and Grandpa were all back from their missions so it was good to see them again. In about a year we will be sending off the next bunch. We sure did miss Dustin and Shauna and their kids and Cody this year. Work schedules just did not permit the trip.


I have to say whew, and when I got home I felt like I needed a vacation.

Where Do They Come From??

Here is a picture of this years garden. We have a small strawberry patch, and we planted lettuce, carrots, broccoli, zucchini, cantaloupe, tomatoes and onions. The kids are all very excited. They love to eat things out of our little garden, for that matter so do the neighbor kids and some of their parents as well. The other morning I woke up to find this....

One whole row of broccoli eaten down to the nubs (that row was to the left of the row Jacob is pointing at and on the other side of the lettuce). You can't really see it but that doesn't really matter because it isn't there to see anymore, and half of the next row eaten (the row Jake is pointing at). At first I thought a rabbit had jumped the little fence and that he really liked broccoli. For the life of me I could not figure out why he did not eat the lettuce. Well later in the day I noticed little green worms all over the existing broccoli plants. Now we have never tried broccoli before, this is a first and we have never seen these little worms before. So here is my question; where do they come from? Now this question goes for tomato worms as well. In another month I am sure we will have those as well. I mean really do they just crawl around for miles sniffing the air trying to find tomato plants. Are their little eggs in the dirt just waiting for tomato or broccoli to be planted and then poof they hatch and start eating my plants. I just do not understand this, but year after year they show up. They certainly do not live here in the winter. So there it is my thought inspired question for the day.

Never a dull moment...

Before lunch time Saturday morning Carson's
arm (near the wrist) snapped in two. Not a good way to start the day.

Bet you will never guess who did it? Our one and only little girl, Hailey. She may have quit playing soccer 2 1/2 years ago, but she still has a mean rocket shot on goal. Carson decided to be the hero and jumped in front of her shot and tried to block it. Well he blocked it alright, and it snapped the bone clean through.
Good news is; it is not on a growth plate, he is young and still growing fast, and it is close to the growth plate so it will remodel itself very quickly. We will go in tomorrow or Tuesday to have it casted. Whenever Dr. Smith has an opening. I am sure he is going to look at the family file and tell me it is growing, at least this time it is not Jacob. Jacob is on a first name basis with the good doctor he
calls him Purcell.



At least he is in good spirits, and we have learned he has a high pain tolerance. Which meant no codeine/hydrocodone and freaky dreams for him.

Easter Weekend

For Easter weekend we rented a cabin in Broken Bow, Oklahoma. The Cottrell's had Spring Break and we had Friday off of school. What better way is there to spend a holiday weekend watching General Conference and enjoying the great outdoors than with family. Since SanDee and I seem to be the picture takers we as usual are not in the pictures, but I assure you we were there. Also do not feel obligated to view all the pictures that I post lately, but Trent's parents are on a mission and this is a way for them to be apart of our lives while they are away, and for the rest of our families that we do not see very often
as nobody lives near us.

First things first, the little kids found the hot tub.

The big kids found the pool table.

Trent enjoying the great outdoors on a conference call.
Gotta do what ya gotta do.

We also celebrated Trent's Birthday while there. Happy Birthday Trent!



We did a little egg dying and Easter Egg hunting, and a little fishing on Friday and Saturday mornings.

Not sure where this large amount of family intelligence is coming from, hope it is not hereditary.

Yes, the branch hangs over the water.

While the priesthood holders drove into Idabel to watch the priesthood session of conference, the rest of us enjoyed a little hike.

Somehow our gym bum always seem to find a "balance beam", even in the great outdoors.