Spring Break

The six older kids are out on spring break and I have been trying to keep them busy and out of my hair.

Corey has been working all over the state and he needed to head down south.

I took this as the perfect opportunity to not be left alone with all the kids to have some quality family time, so we tagged along.

I took these five kiddos through the Oregon Caves.

That was super cool and very interesting!

We then drove farther down south, through the Redwood forest which contained some of the biggest trees thatyoueverdidsee.

From there we headed over to the coast, just in time to see the sun setting.

We ate dinner on the beach...a little cold but beautiful.

After dinner, we realized how far away from home we were. Ouch.

We actually didn't make it home until almost 2am. **Yawn**

Planning even a day outing like this requires so much advance prep.

We didn't buy any food at all while we were gone.

Not because I didn't feed them although that would have been easier

Instead, we brought along all our own food.

Turkey sandwiches, strawberries, granolie bars, pumpkin muffins, apples, blond brownies, burritos, dried fruit and nuts.

I cooked a turkey and made sun-dried tomato/mozzarella cheese bread for the sandwiches. I've already shared the granolie bars recipe and at some point, I'll get around to posting the pumpkin muffin recipe. They are delish and healthy. Weird, huh?

I made 150 burritos and froze most. The rest of them we took for dinner.

My teenage boys refer to the blond brownies as "a little slice of heaven". They are that good. Healthy too? I think not.

Who's ready for the next adventure?

Not me!

At least not yet.

I'm still recovering from this one...

Question of the day...

How many kids can fit on a 3 person couch?

A lot, apparently...


Life is officially kicking my bum.

I thought we would have a small break in between winter and springs sports.

I was wrong.

I still haven't recovered from the grueling high school winter sports.

Joseph had his last swim meet on Sunday and started track on Monday.

Michael has his last swim meet this weekend and spring soccer starts the day after.

Both Joshua and Timothy start soccer next week.

And, then Liz asked to play softball.

In case you are keeping track, that is five different teams.

I'm thinking about waving the white flag.

Just not sure if anyone would notice...

My weekend

This last weekend we...

Went to two basketball games

Watched Liz's performances

Doesn't she make a cute ballerina?

We buried our cat, Spook, back by the garden.

Took the entire fam damily out to dinner for my birthday. Thanks Mom and Dad!

Stared, depressed at the growing mound of empty casserole dishes.

Counted eight meals left out in the freezer.

Had a good cry

Got to work cooking

Made 10 beef and bean pies

Two double batches of Taco Chili

Four batches of red potato soup

Four lasagnas

Eight bean and biscuit casseroles

And someone just informed me that it's going to get worse before it gets better.

Huh?

My eternal family

One of my in-laws wanted this pix taken. Four generations of family. Actually, my entire family as well, except for me. Still scratching my head on that one.

Great Grandpa with Lily Pad

Levi with his bio grandparents. We are forever indebted to these people. There are no adequate words of appreciation. They could have stepped in and raised this little boy. But they let us. There are truly no words...

My twinerds

Corey's grandpa, dad and our Michael

I love this one of Great-Grandpa with Matthew

Levi with three of his bio siblings. Wish I could show you a better pix, they are all beautiful children. But, I am respecting their privacy.

Levi destroying smelling the flowers.

Joshua and Lily Pad (who has a massive shiner)

My eternal family

Utah pictures

This is one of Corey's brothers and his wonderful family. We just love, love, love this family!

Corey comes from a really large, blended family (he is one of 10 kids) and there is so much that is just so unpleasant about it.

Lots and lots of negativity, materialism, arrogance, abrasive, loud personalities, backbiting, competitiveness...it has totally burned us both out.

Not all of them wear us out, there are a few that we enjoy being around but he has one brother that is, simply put...stellar.

Both him and his wife are caring, warm, genuine, down-to-earth, humble, lovable people and our kids get along wonderfully.

The reason that we made the suicide whirlwind trip to Utah, was because their twins (they have a set too!) were getting baptized. We wanted to be there to share in their special day.

While we were there we got to take the kids down to Temple Square to check out the amazing light display. Breathtaking!

We left on a Thursday in the afternoon and arrived Friday morning. We left Utah the next night, Saturday and arrived back home Sunday afternoon.

I think that kind of trip is called a suicide. Probably because you want to take your own life to get out of the remainder of the trip.

Was it worth it? Driving hour after hour after hour after hour with a van load of kiddos?

Definitely.

Miss you guys!

Twins!

More Utah family

And more

And more...are you seeing a common theme here?

Corey with Lily at Temple Square

Doing the headcount lineup.

What is so remarkable about this picture of Hannah with my sister-in-law is that Hannah does not go to anybody. But, she really took to my sister-in-law and kept going up to her wanting to be picked up.

I so loved seeing Hannah reach out to someone like that.

Corey with all four of his "full" brothers, along with their dad. What totally cracks me up about this picture is that Corey and his twin (on far right) are wearing very similar jackets. Corey is in red and his twin is wearing blue.

Those are the colors that their mom always had them wear. Too funny that they still, unknowingly, do this.

Obviously, they are both scarred for life.

The reflecting pool was amazing!

In the reflecting pool were these little light balls.

I don't know exactly what they are but I need some.

For real.

The view on the way home.

Beautiful.

Especially when it means that home is nearby.

Home, sweet home.

The entire fam damily

I love this picture, taken at Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Utah.

The only exception is that Tim closed his eyes, on purpose, in every. single. picture.

Luckily Utah's Child Protection Laws are much more lax then the ones here, so I beat him after this was taken.

Kidding people. I jest. Please don't call DHS.

And this "outtake" cracks me up every single time. Enlarge it and check out Matthew's face.

I think he looks possessed.

It's probably just the after effects of sleeping all night in a car seat...

14 hour road trip + 9 kids = my personal hell

A few days before Thanksgiving, Corey we decided that we would make a quick trip to Utah.

Giving me only a few days to come up with reasons not to go to get ready was crazy!

Luckily, me and crazy are best buds!

We literally finished Thanksgiving dinner and then left.

Driving all night is not fun.

Overdosing on caffine will make you act weird.

Trust me.

Doesn't Matthew look happy at the propsect of driving all night?

I feel your pain buddy.

Believe me.

Please ignore Lily digging for treasure.

We made sure that Lily didn't have a nap on Thanksgiving in hopes that she wouldn't fight going to sleep in her carseat and that she would sleep most of the way there.

This was Lily only 15 minutes into the drive.

Too bad she didn't stay that way...

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours...

Hope you have a wonderful holiday season and a safe and happy 2010!

Happy Halloween!

Friday night we took the kids down to the church for the annual "Trunk or Treat". We figured that if they got enough candy they wouldn't feel ripped off when we didn't take them Saturday night.

Whoever scheduled the local college game should seriously be smacked for scheduling it at 5pm on Halloween night. Not cool people...not cool.

But, because we were sick of the whining and pouting and we wanted more candy for ourselves we were feeling nice, we threw on some costumes on the kids only because it was halftime and took them out until halftime was over for a little bit.

We had a new record high number of trick or treaters that came to our door. Over 180 kids came because we give out full size candy bars to talk to the gracious hostess and admire the decor.

Spook, our 15 year old black cat, put on a good show as usual, greeting all the kids. I am so going to miss my favorite, interactive Halloween prop cat when he is gone.

Halloween...the best day of the whole year!!!



Tim went to school dressed up as an FBI agent

Hannah as Little Red Riding Hood

Matthew aka Luke Skywalker

Levi, our knight in shining armor

Us at the Halloween party Friday night.

Even though all that green face paint sure did make my teeth look white, it's not a look I could pull off everyday. I could almost feel the chemicals leeching into my skin.

And you should have seen how long it took me to get it off. Yikes!

Happy Halloween!!!

Adventures at the Local Farm

The three teenagers stayed at home because they were too cool to tag along but the younger six had a great time!


Horse-drawn wagon ride through the orchard

Balloons for all

Enjoying cobbler and ice cream

That is the stuff that memories are made of!