Reunion 2010!

My family got together last week for a family reunion.  When you consider that I have 7 siblings, all of whom are married, and many of whom have at least a few kids... the numbers multiply quickly.  :)  There were 42 of us in total, and we had a BLAST!  Here's a few pictures of what our week looked like.

A friendly game of Kubb. 

Our giant waterslide.  So much fun, but the water was COLD!

Benson's project, a super ginormously fun tire swing.  I don't think I saw it empty the whole week.  

A few of the girls by the temple sunstone in Nauvoo.

The oxcart.  The oxen were not in any hurry.  lol! 

A few of the boys in the statue garden in Nauvoo.

Silly string fight!!  We had a birthday party for everyone. 

We also had professional pictures taken of the whole group.  It will be a while until I get those, so for now you can only see the preview on the photographers blog.  Go there now.  We had an amazing week.  It was over too quickly. 

Now all I have to look forward to is my new kitchen.  :)  Not to mention all the work that entails.  LOL!  Pictures of that progress coming soon.

hole in the floor

 For Kelli.  :)  Another "picture is worth a thousand words"  Benson had to saw through the flooring to get to the leaky pipe under it.  It probably would look better without the tape, but the basic problem of a hole cut out of the flooring would still be there.  When we did this, we thought we could buy a couple extra pieces of flooring material and just replace the pieces we cut.  Unfortunately, every flooring company in the world makes their flooring fit together in different ways.  :(  Since we have to replace it anyway, we're also going to try to level out the floor.  Right now it drops by about an inch from where the stove is to the wall by the kitchen table.  If you look closely, I've blackened where the bubble is on the level.  Not even close to between the lines.  I suppose this explains why I always have balls, toys and spills sitting right up against that wall. 

(By the way we're saving the good pieces of flooring to use in our pantry or maybe a bedroom)

So, here we go! 

What are we thinking??

Well, I guess the pictures probably are worth a thousand words, but I'll give a little narration anyway.  First, below we have the "hole in the floor" where we had to cut through the flooring to get to a leaky pipe below it.  We tried in vain to match the type of flooring that was put down.  Everybody makes their flooring fit together in different ways.  :(

Our children have been a little hard on our drawers.  Ok, "little" might be an understatement.  After repairing and rebuilding the drawers a dozen times, we finally gave up and left the fronts off.

The previous owners made optimal use of counter space.  Including mounting extra counter over the stove to put the microwave on.  Functional, but not very pretty.  Plus a lot of wasted space there. 

SO!  What we were thinking was that we really wanted to fix some of these issues.  I hope we're not in over our heads, but we've committed to doing a kitchen makeover.  We ordered the cabinets, but we are going to do all the work ourselves.  Wish us luck!!!

Happy Independence Day

:

 

 Just before things got started.

Watching the fireworks.  Notice Twisters hands over his ears... LOL!  

 

He kept telling me the lights were loud.  :)  My favorite moment was when he uncovered his ears and tried to cover mine.  He is a sweet boy.   As loud as they were, he was ready for more after the finale...

I think Goose enjoyed the show too.  Sweetie loved watching them with her cousins.  Tank always tells us its too loud.  She liked the fireworks we could see in the distance that were tiny and silent.  Sorry honey, not exciting enough for us. 

Cinderelly did very well for her first fireworks.  She was sitting with my Mom who tried to keep her ears covered.  She didn't cry until it was nearly over.  By the way... loving the pants.  I won't divulge your identity here, but you know who you are.  :)  You can thank Twister for the picture. 

The finale was the best I've ever seen.  And that is saying alot.  They always put on a spectacular show, but the finale just kept going and going!  It was so loud you could feel it in your chest.  I love that!  

GOD BLESS THE USA !!!!! 

Please remember only two defining forces have ever 

offered to die for you... JESUS CHRIST

and the AMERICAN SOLIDER. One died for your soul, the other for

your freedom... My heartfelt thanks and deep gratitude to ALL those

who have fought for my FREEDOM!