what's going on.

Just an update on what's been happening around here lately.  School  is in full swing, and along with that, for Amber is a crazy schedule.  Early morning seminary, before school marching band practice, then after school jazz band practice, she also has play practice 3 days a week from 7 to 9 for the musical that they're doing in November.   Plus her work schedule at Fareway, piano practice, and her homework.  She's getting strait A's and I'm amazed.  I  never could have done all that.  She's such a wonderful daughter.  Ben is in Marching Band too for the middle school, and he has soccer as well. Keaton is in soccer and I'm not coaching this year.  I just thought it would be to much with everything else that's going on right now.  Sam didn't want to play this year and I'm fine with that.  It's hard having three boys, on three different soccer teams.  I'll make him do it next year.  Ben won't be in the AYSO soccer league anymore, and the high school soccer season is in the spring.  Also I won't have a daughter at home anymore, (sniff) so all her Saturday activities won't need my time.  I'll probably coach Keaton's team next year.  It's kinda fun. 

Youth Hunting season is this week, and Bret and Ben have been going out most evenings this week.  Looking for Ben's first buck, to put in the freezer.  He's getting a little frustrated because he's seen big bucks on the tree cams that we've had out all summer, and none are showing up during shooting hours.  Amber got lucky the first time she went out, she got a big beautiful buck.  The next year her first time out, she did the same thing.  So I think Ben had high expectations.  He's not very patient when it comes to sitting still and quiet for hours.  But hopefully he's appreciating  the whole hunting experience and not just the trophy.  Spending time outdoors, with his Dad. 

We've just got done digging out are pond some more.  I think it's finally the size we want, and we've got a little grassy island in the middle that hopefully some ducks or geese will make their spring time home.  That is if the dogs will leave them alone.  We've planted about 30 spruce trees along the southern side to give us some privacy from the hyway and in the spring we'll plant some different bushes and trees among them to fill it in real nice, so in 15 years it will block the pond from the road.  Skinny dipping anyone????

Early Morning seminary is going well.  I've discovered that an hour nap around 2 is very helpful.  although it doesn't happen as much as I would like.  Bret likes it better when I get a nap, so I'm not nodding off to sleep at 8:30.  Our cuddle time has definitely taken a hit.  I try to make up for it on the weekends.  I have 3 kids in my class.  Dallon, a Jr, Preston a Freshman, and Amber, the Sr. They like to talk, and argue about the best band, or movie, or about anything really, So I try to teach a lesson each day.  I found food helps the boys keep quiet pretty good.  I'm learning a lot I didn't know about the Old Testament, so that's been a plus, I don't know how much the students are getting out of it.  But I'm trying. 

Bret was supposed to go on a hunting trip in Canada, on the 17th.  He was going with his Dad and Bruce Burger to Quebec for Caribou.  On the 16th the outfitter called and said there wasn't any Caribou near their camps so if they come it might not be very fruitful.  Bruce wanted to wait until next year, Bret decided to as well.  Poor John was already on his way and had to be contacted from his hotel in Canada.  So he had a nice flight to Canada for nothing.  I felt bad for all of them.  They were really looking forward to this hunt.  Bret was looking forward to being with his Dad, and hopefully to put some meat in  the freezer and a mount on his wall.  But he's been home all week, which I like, he has been doing morning clinic, and then coming home in the afternoon.  We've been getting lots done outside.  We're getting the windmill fan and motor ready to put up, lots of stuff is being planted, and we've started building the dock on the pond.  Speaking of.  Last night Bret has an hour before he has to take Amber and Ben to the church for Mutual.  So he says "Amber, wanna go out in the boat?"  So he grabs his drill, some pliers, and a level, and they go outside.  I'm not sure what he has in mind.  So 15 minutes before they have to leave, I go outside to tell Bret it's almost time to go. I find them in the little row boat out in the pond by the two posts that we're going to build the dock on.  Bret says "Hey, in my truck is a vice wrench go get it for me.  I've dropped the one I had in the water."  Then Amber tells me that Dad almost went in the water when the boat moved away from the post while Bret was hanging onto it with his feet in the boat.  His body was over the water and he almost went in.  But Amber managed to get the boat back so Bret could let go and get back in the boat.  Amber gave me her cell phone just in case.  Then while trying to get the cross board screwed into the two posts, the level they were using fell off the board and went into the water.  The water is about 15 feet deep.  So after a lot of apologies from Amber, Bret tells me to go get the other level.  I'm getting a little upset because its time to get going to the church.  Bret is in charge of the activity and he really shouldn't be late. So I get the level and toss it to him in the boat.  Amber was just saying to Bret, "You better not tip the boat!  I don't want to have to explain to everyone at the church why I'm all wet!"  Not long after that, Bret had screwed in one end of the board, and wanted Amber to switch places with him so he could screw in the other end.  Well they were both standing, which was their first mistake, then as they were crossing in he middle back to back the boat tipped and Amber screamed, and Bret yelled, the boat tipped and in the water they went.  They came up sputtering and gasping, and Amber was NOT happy!  Bret had his drill in his hand and quickly got that back in the boat.  Amber had knee high rubber boots on and was having a hard time staying afloat.  They were filling with water and weighing her down, so she quickly swims to me and I help her out.  It's a steep bank where I was and she almost pulled me in as I was trying to pull her out!  Bret was just laughing, and decided that since he was already in the water he'd try it find his lost tools.  He found the level, but dived a few times for he wrench, but no luck.  Then he just pulled the boat after him and swam to the beach so he could get out.  Amber hi-tailed it to the house so she could dry off and change.  They needed to leave in 5 minutes!  So anyway pretty funny.  I'm just glad it wasn't me.  They made it to the church, and Amber took a shower when she got home, and I have some wet muddy clothes to wash.

Well it's almost 9, I didn't get my nap today and I'm really starting to feel the sleepiness take over. 
Until next time my loving friends and family :)  

Ben turns 14!

Benjamin's 14th birthday.  He's waited all year for this.  He's hoping now that he's 14 his voice will change and he'll start growing hair on his face, and he wants to grow like 2 feet!  Let's hope he gets his wish soon.   

He got a new watch, because his old one was to small for him.  It was also old and had a velcro strap that didn't want to stick together anymore. 

Sam wanted to get him a hotwheels car.  So here we are.  They already have hundreds of them lying around all over the house!

A new wii game.  Conduit 2.  Not to happy about this one, but what do you do.

Sam and Keaton both got Nerf guns for their birthdays so now Ben has one, his is the biggest, and now they can all battle with each other and have a great time.  Now I get to pick up nerf darts that are all over the place.

Ahh the lego sets.  He loved this one!!!!

Ben's a hawkeye fan, and I saw this pillow pet and thought, "Why not?!"  He loved it!

Go Hawkeyes!!!!

We had a yummy cake, and all sang happy birthday, then went to Council bluffs to eat at the Olive Garden.  That's where he wanted to go eat.  I thought he'd say Pizza Ranch or Burger King.  My little boy is growing up.  I asked why Olive Garden and he said, "I love the breadsticks!" 

We were all sitting at the breakfast table one afternoon, and saw this little guy sitting on the back of our deck chair.  Ben loves bugs of any shape and size so he had to go and play with it for a while. He was a very good subject to photograph.  He had some wonderful posses.  So cool!  Ben is growing up and appreciating nature more, because he didn't ask for a pickle jar, so he could keep this thing in the house.  After watching it climb around for a while, he took it to a little tree and let him go. 

Keaton goes to the hospital

It's hard to see your child in a hospital bed, I don't care if it was just to get some teeth removed and a couple of cavities filled, It just isn't the sight you want to see. Keaton as some teeth problems even at this early age.  He was grinding his front teeth down to nothing, and the dentist said he wanted to take them out before they caused him problems.  Also his back teeth are so tightly packed together that he had developed cavities in between a couple of his back teeth because we weren't flossing.  I thought I was doing good at just making sure they brushed good.  I didn't floss my other kids teeth when they were this age. None of them have had any cavities!  So because of his age and what they had to do, he had to be put in the hospital and be put to sleep so they could work on his teeth.  He was able to bring his giraffe and blanket for comfort, and they gave him some nice hospital pj's.

After a long time of waiting and many nurses later, they put him in a big red wagon and took him into surgery.  I wasn't to much of a wreck. After all it was just dental work.  I couldn't help but feel it was all my fault though.  I must say we are ALL avid flossers now!

I met with the Doctor who performed the surgery and he said everything went fine and gave me his two front teeth in a little plastic cup.  The tooth fairy will do double duty for these teeth!  They brought him back to his room and layed him in this bed to rest and to wake up from the anethesia.  He did not want to wake up. His mouth was sore for a couple of days after and he said it felt weird to not have his front teeth.  He said "How am I going to eat apples now?"  I told him as soon as his grown up teeth grew in he'd have no trouble eating apples. As I said before I don't like seeing my children in hospital beds, and I hope the next time I do it will be to visit Amber after she's had her first baby!

On to other things.  This summer we've decided that our pond wasn't big enough.  So we had Bobby come out again and dig some more.  We had to drain the pond about 4 feet so he could dig another big section, and we wanted him to leave an island in the middle.  The little part with the grass will be that island when the water level returns to normal.  I wanted a little place for the geese and ducks to nest and be safe from the dogs!  We had geese last spring but the dogs kept chasing them off. It was making me mad.  I love geese and ducks on our pond.  We also discovered that we have about a thousand gold fish in it as well.  Last fall a friend of ours had about 5 gold fish that were in his mothers little pond and they wanted to get rid of them, so he asked if we wanted them.  Apparently they have the right conditions for spawning because we have lots of them now!  Guess it's time for the bass to go in.  Hope they like to eat gold fish. 

This is Bobby and his big machine, tapering the edges.  It's amazing how he works that shovel.  It's so smooth it looks alive.  So lots of stuff going on at our house, with the landscaping.  Lots more to do as well.  But it's fun to see things take shape and look nicer as each project gets done. 

Coming home

 Saying goodbye to Victoria, Canada.  After a great time fishing on the ocean, eating some great seafood, and walking around exploring the city, we headed back to the ferry to take us back to the USA.  We had to get in line for the 7:30pm ferry at 1:00.  Because they said the 10:00 ferry was already full.  We couldn't miss the second one, we had to still drive to Seattle to catch our flight the next day.  Our flight was leaving at 12:10 in the afternoon.  We didn't have time to take the next morning ferry.  So we bought our tickets, and parked our car in line for the ferry, and walked around the rest of the day.  There was a natural history museum, that we went to, and also a lot of shops to browse around in.  We bought some more souvenirs, and had lunch. Then we  got on the boat to take us home.

 My Three boys love to be silly sometimes, well mostly all the time. And on the ferry they were a little nuts. 

 I have to laugh at this picture.  She was trying to pose for a picture, and the wind kept blowing her hair around.  She had finally gotten it under control and smiled pretty.  Then just as Bret snapped the photo, the wind decided to take her hair across her face!  So funny!

 It was a little chilly in the back of the boat. It had been a nice day and most of us had shorts on.  But we luckily had some sweatshirts.

 Keaton waving goodbye to Canada, heading for the land of the free.  A fitting picture for the end of a great family adventure.

 Okay, I have to explain these next few pictures.  We were sitting out on a covered deck, on these hard metal, and plastic chairs.  It's pretty quiet, and Ben kinda sits up in his chair a bit and just lets one rip without really meaning to.  Or he new it was coming and didn't realize the sound it would make.  This fart vibrated off of those chairs and was heard by all within a 20 foot radius. Sam started laughing his head off.  Keaton was making all kinds of noises, and laughing as well.

 Ben was just embarrassed.  Then started laughing a little too.

 Keaton wanted to take a picture so here it is.  Not bad I must say.  This was right after the fart disturbance.

 In the airport showing their ID to all the security gates.  They were very proud of their passports.  They were flashing them to everyone like they were FBI agents.  We were really bummed because Canada, wouldn't stamp their passports!  Even when we asked them to.  Kill-joys!

 This picture is  a little out of place, back on the boat.  Amber saying farewell to Canada.  She really fell in love with this city. She was sad to leave.

On the plane ready to be home!  I must say I like flying Southwest.  I highly recommend this airline.  We flew from Seattle to Chicago, then to Omaha.  We had no problems with anything, the whole trip was smooth sailing and flying.  We walked out of the airport into the 90 degree heat and humidity, and about passed out though.  It was nice to get away from that for awhile, but hey, summer heat can't last forever right?
It was a great vacation, one for the books.  It was nice to be going home though, and sleep in my own bed, and not have to get my clothes from out of a suitcase.  It was so nice to see family again too.  I sometimes wish we didn't live so far from everybody.  But I do love our home and the people in the midwest.  The weather I could do with out sometimes, but if the weather were perfect too, then EVERYONE would want to live here!  We need our space.