Carving Pumpkins

When your kids can carve their own pumpkins with a minimum of assistance, you know they are growing up. Of course, the mama of this group has mixed feelings about this situation. There is a feeling of relief that I don't have to stick my hand inside a cold, wet, stringy pumpkin to clean it out, (well, in the end I had to help Trev a bit with that), yet on the other hand a twinge of remorse at yet another signal that my kids are becoming less and less dependent on me. Of course, they are still very happy for me to feed them, and do their laundry, and take them where they need to go, etc. But little moments like this are those I really thought I would never experience as a mom of six children who always seem to need something.

But, here they are, in living color - scraping, carving, drilling, shaping. All by themselves.
Trevor still needed me a little. :-)

Kristin did just fine thank you very much.

You may notice the extra big smile on Amber's face! That's because she is October's Student of the Month for 9th Grade!!! Woo Hoo!

A Geography Quiz

In honor of my roadtrip with Ashley and Talmage last week, I thought I'd offer a quiz about some of the states in the "Great 48".

1. What state has more quarter horse farms (for lack of a better word) than I ever imagined? This state also has a pretty scary place to stop and buy gas. I call it Scary Perry. (Oklahoma)

2. What state has people in it that are very anti-abortion as we could see by the signs along the road, many sunflower fields, (way past their prime, truly sorry we missed that) and also boasts of an 8000 lb. prairie dog? We can't substantiate this as a fact because we choose not to take the exit and see for ourselves. (Kansas)

3. Which state has a publication, much like an Auto Trader, that is only for tractors?
You name the brand, it was for sale! This state also has the same sign to welcome you that it used when I was a little girl! That was a long time ago. (Colorado)

4. In which state did we see a cow walking along the entrance ramp to I-80. (You probably think I'm kidding on this one, but I kid you not!) This was also the state that Ashley and I remembered the purpose for the defroster in the car. What a blond moment that was! (Wyoming)

5. Which state had all 3 of Talmage's grandmas at the same time? (Greats not included. Although there were some there also.) (Utah)

6. In which state, did we stop at the "Garden of Eden" for lunch? Big snake, tree, stuffed parrot and real water tumbling down some rocks included. This Garden of Eden also had a Taco Time, a Blimpies and pretty much anything else a traveler could want to buy. (Idaho)

7. Which state did Talmage finally decide he'd had enough of the road trip? We also stopped in a pretty sorry town in this state, got a blizzard treat from Dairy Queen and passed 3 quilt shops. Go figure! Life just isn't fair sometimes. (The town was not very big at all) (Oregon)

8. What was the state we left from with lots of oil wells which look just like the dinosaurs I thought they were as a child, and which state was our final destination and a beautiful green ending to our trip? (Texas and Washington)

Well, how'd you do?

As you can tell, we drove through many states, stopped at least once in each of them, and had a great trip, with some great memories. I predict Talmage will be a long-haul trucker at some point in his life. The open road didn't seem to phase him for most of the trip, and he was pretty content to chew on his biter biscuits or play with his toys when he wasn't snoozing! What a blessing!

Sadly, we have no pictures of this great adventure! Ashley's camera was packed, and mine is on its way to the great camera-land in the sky! But each of the family members we stayed with will vouch for us being there. What a great experience! I think Ashley, Brandon and Talmage will have a great time living in the Evergreen state for a few months, and taking advantage of the Great Northwest.

Thanks for letting me go along with you, Ashley and Talmage!

Our last summer hurrah!

Summer's gone and we sent it out in style! We spent the week before school started at the beautiful Oregon Coast. What a great week!

We rented a house in Rockaway Beach and it was perfect for our vacation. The beach was not crowded, the drive to Tillamook and Cannon Beach, either way, was not long, and we loved that we only had to walk about 100 steps to get to the ocean.

Haystack Rock was misty the day we went, but our timing was good and we got there at low tide and saw some pretty cool things. I think we all liked the sea stars clinging to the rocks, and the sea anemones didn't mind a stroke from our fingers as long as we were gentle.



John and the kids flew kites on the beach. Sadly, Allison was wearing plaid shorts the day we went to the kite shop, so as you can see by the sign, she had to stay outside! Too Bad!







They found a good bay to go crabbing in and provided dinner one night. They brought in 8 crabs, 4 times as many as the last time they tried! Many of us decided that crab meat is much more tasty when you don't have to do all the work to get to it! :-)

If you go, we highly recommend Flamingo Jim's for all your souvenir needs, and a stop at the Tillamook Cheese Factory for an ice cream is a must do!

Trevor and Amber gave the skim board a try and both ended up in the water, but in the true spirit of the beach gave it another try, and mastered it!

Chelsie, Amber and Alli all embraced the library of books to escape into.


The Cape Mears lighthouse still stands and the view from it is just as beautiful as I remember from previous trips.




By our final afternoon, we still hadn't been able to build a sandcastle, but as you can see from the pictures, mother nature cooperated with us, and we had the perfect afternoon. We pooled our talents and built quite a turtle castle; we impressed ourselves.



Talmage found the sand too good to resist! We found him too good to resist! He was all smiles, giggles and fun! He couldn't stand to be away from the party! We loved to oblige him, but we know Ashley paid the price when she got home. The heavy price of not having 7 other people to entertain him! Even so, we are so glad he and his mom could be with us for the week. We missed Brandon, but assured him that he is invited again, the next time we come!

We also couldn't resist the beautiful sunsets! Just look at the colors! Gorgeous!

One of the best parts of the trip was watching how quickly Talmage had Grandpa wrapped around his little finger! They are quite a pair. They also look good at the beach!


As with any family vacation, its so good to just get away and spend time with each other!





We did come home a little earlier than we planned. The night before we left, the kids let us in on the secret that they were throwing a surprise 25th Anniversary party for us! Surprised doesn't begin describe it! We are very touched that they did that, and proud of the younger kids for keeping the secret! Neither one of us had any inkling that it was in the works! Very fun!

So, now here we are, at the beginning of September! Good things are around the corner - Ashley, Brandon and Talmage are moving to Seattle for 6 months! We can't wait! It sounds like there is a road trip in the move for this grandma! Fun!

Chelsie is back at BYU and living the college life again! She said she loves us, but is glad to be back at college. We love her too, and know how good it is!

Allison, our high school senior is working hard and studying hard, preparing for her own college experience.

Amber, our freshman in high school, is also working hard, her grades are showing her efforts.

Kristin, 6th grade, is patrol captain, and getting ready for soccer to start. If she can maintain perfect attendance, there is a reward of a new bike. She is bound and determined to be a winner! We'll see how that ends up!

Trevor, 4th grade, is giving flag football a try. Mom said she'd prefer he played soccer, but football won out in the end. No surprise there! Hopefully he'll stay on his feet and not get smushed!

We're ba-ack

Fun in the summer sun!!!


Well, the blog has been on a well-deserved vacation for a few months, but now its time to get back to work!

School's out, summer's half over, and its flying by. In a nutshell, we've worked hard, and played a little. To say its been hot would be an understatement.
Joey, Jared, Katie and Trevor on an expedition!


Trev finished his baseball season at the end of June. He had a great time, and made it at least to first the majority of his at bats. He also liked playing in the infield and catcher.














The garden is growing, and the next blog will be a little tour of the garden, but today, here is my best garden success for the year so far.

When my girls were little, one of our favorite books was called Miss Rumphius. It is the story of a woman who has traveled far and wide and finally settled down when she got old. She wanted to contribute to the world so she decided to fill the countryside around her with lupines. It is a story about the importance of giving of yourself to help make others lives better.

In the spirit of Miss Rumphius, I have tried several times to plant my own lupines. She had the gift to start them from seed, but I have tried to plant already grown plants. Several have died before they even had a chance, but one has lasted a few years now. It was small to start with, and still is pretty puny, but after about 3 summers, it finally bloomed. It was just as pretty as I
hoped it would be and although it only blooms once a season, has earned a place in the flower bed. What a beautiful flower!!!



Tour de France fever struck Trevor this year, and inspired his choice of birthday cake decorations. He had a little mini party at the river with his birthday buddy, Reid Folsom (who has about 35 years on him) and then finally had the family celebration on Sunday. Who wouldn't love a kid who looks like such a goofy with his new swim goggles on? Seems like it would be pretty uncomfortable to me!!! By the way, he has wayyyyy to many girlfriends if you know what I mean!! What a cute 9 year old!!!

Amber's Campaign Video.

Amber's Campaign Video!

Okay so here's my video for my campaign for the Class and School President. Unfortunately the Elections were on Friday and I didn't win. A girl from my old soccer team won which was good. The two twin boys are my friends from school, and then the three girls are some of my best friend. The video was to prove to my school that I can be funny and would make the Sacajawea Channel enjoyable and not BLAH like this year. So I hope that you enjoy this movie and sorry ahead of time about the clicks that happen to make the noise hard! :)

-AMBER

Grandma Betty Boop

Lucky us! We've had Grandma Hughes staying with us for the past 2 months. I feel especially fortunate since I never thought she'd be able to come visit again after her fall a few years ago.

She has been a delight, and except for being miserable for a few days because all the spring trees sent her into a major allergy attack, I think she's enjoyed herself.

Here are a few highlights so far from her stay with us -

Kristin and Trevor's piano recital

The Pinewood Derby


John's Birthday


Allison competing in Jr. Miss


Coloring Easter Eggs with the gang



Talmage, Ashley and Brandon coming to visit - Talmage is her first Great-Great Grandchild



Prom preparations - this was after Allison's friend took her stuff home!


In the end - the mess was worth it.




And of course, the 5 generation picture.



Also included in our activities have been lunches with friends and of course, we've both enjoyed "Dancing with the Stars". Can you believe Ty is still around? Go Cowboy!!!

You can see, we've tried our best to wear her out, but she is made of tough stuff, and keeps up with our every move! Well - mostly. :-)

Things often come full circle, and its been a joy to have Grandma here and for me to help take care of her, as she once took care of me, although she's pretty self-sufficient and just needs a helping hand occasionally. She'll leave us in a few weeks, but who knows, maybe she'll make her way up north again in the future.

Just what did I sign up for???

So, Cub Scouts is a whole new ball game for a mother of 5 girls, and former Young Women's leader. I was expecting new experiences like boy humor - there's a limit to how funny that is; the pinewood derby; cub scout day camp; cub scout energy, (there is no energy shortage in my den); a lovely addition to my wardrobe (khaki is one of my favorite colors, luckily)!

You know, things like that. But no one ever said I'd have to be brave around scorpions!!!

Here's the story-

Our field trip in April was to a fossil dig not too far out of town. The boys were excited, the weather was very cooperative, and we were having great success finding leaf fossils, when suddenly there was a cry - "Here's a scorpion!" Said crier was not talking about a scorpion fossil. There, crawling along the dirt was a real life scorpion. Tiny but with his stinging little backside up in the air. I bravely took my shovel, moved him across the road and we continued. As the boys chipped away at the hillside, two more "friends" were unearthed and thanks to a sharp-eyed bear cub scout, I didn't grab one of them as I was reaching for a rock. Well, in the end, no one was stung - good thing since I didn't brush up on my scorpion first aid before I came. FYI - you treat a scorpion bite much like a spider bite, unless the symptoms are more serious, then go right to snake bite first aid. One of my cubbies was a little traumatized, but he has come to den meetings since, so I think he must have overcome his fear.


So...who knew my horizons would be broadened in such a way because of this calling? We are always growing aren't we?