Thankful

I am pretty thankful for this blog ,.. . I had an external disk that I put all of sawyers baby photos on , that is not functioning anymore. I even took it in to a computer repair guy to see what he could get off of it, and nothing. It is a total loss. The internal drive is scratched where the information in not retrievable. And here I thought I was saving all of these pictures just in case the computer did a malfunction. So, my back up is gone and I am fishing around all over the place looking for pictures of Sawyer as a baby. I feel a little like when we had our house fire and all of Tylers baby pictures got ruined. They do look the same. I could probably pass one off as the other and they would have no clue. They are little twins, 10 years apart. I finally remembered this blog, which is terrible, because it has been so long since I have even looked at it. You can tell that this is how my journal is. Very spotty and inconsistent. I really need to get better at that. Anyway, here they are. Not a ton, but pictures of sawyer when he was first born. And I can copy and print. perfect!! I am so thankful for so many things. For good friends that encourage and inspire me. For bloggs that I did 6 years ago that help me now. This last Christmas , the family went Skiing down these rediculously small hills. . Because lets just face it, there are no mountains here in Minnesota. . . But it was still fun. We went with a big group of other families. So all of my kids has a friend to ski with. The sad part was that Lanae twisted her knee and is non crutches now. And then the second day, it was so cold, we ended up not skiing. The wind chills were like -30 and on the ski lifts, that is freezing!! I am thankful that Lanae didn't get hurt worse than she did. It is just a sprain! We think that it got dislocated, and then re- located. I don't even know how to say that. But she if fine. She just needs time for it to heal. I am grateful that we are healthy and strong, grateful for a sweet husband that does such a good job providing and taking care of us. That can't be an easy task. There are quite a few of us. I am just basking in my happiness, because I know that these moments don't last very long. Some tragety, or unhappiness of some kind will surely come along, and i will be pulled back to reality. This christmas instead of sending out cards, I did a video of our last year. If you want to see it, Put this link in your browser. I think it is super cute. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JAwyyJvrzM The kids grow up so fast. Tyler will be a senior next year. I am so grateful I stayed home with them all! I would hate to miss any of it!

Wow, a year and a half goes by quick

This is so like my journal. . . . years and years go by without anything, and then I may have a post in there one or two times a decade. My sister in law did a day in the life of herself, and I thought that would be interesting. so, here it goes. . . . You know , I got a page done, and realized that it was way more information, than I wanted the general public to know. I guess I am kind of a private person. I don't like the thought of people knowing what my schedule is and when I will be home and when I won't. Or my kids schedules. All growing up my Mom would tell us horror stories of what happened to other families where a kid got stolen, or burned , or tortured, and I guess I have trust issues with most people. We have had a good year. We have a boy that is almost ready to get his drivers licence and date. Way tooo crazy! He just got his first job as a lifeguard. Whoo hoo. Love that transition to self sufficiency and learning to take care of his own finances and future. It is weird to think that I only have him for two and a half more years. . . Once he goes off to college or a mission, than he really won't come back. He will just be visiting really from then on. I now have two girls in braces. Well, one that will be getting them off soon, and one that has a pallet expander and will be getting them on. . . Such beautiful girls. We just got home from a trip to Vegas for Christmas. It has been a full decade since we did that. WHen I was pregnant with Coleman, I had him right after christmas, I couldn't travel and it was so nice to have christmas at home, that that is what we did from then on. Now I remember why. . . It was so confusing sending things here and there and making sure that there was enough on both sides of the trip. THen going from one house to the next. Not that I minded being with all of our cousins and Grandparents, I loved it, but it was tough. . . I always feel like I don't spend enough time with someone, and then there are hurt feelings and I am stressed out. It was so fun to see everyone though. We had such a great time. I can understand the attraction of Vegas, when we left Minnesota and it was -20 then have beautiful 60 degree weather the whole time we are there. Only to come back to -20 and lower temperatures. The kids school ended up getting cancelled for two days because of extreme cold. Crazy huh.

Summer is finally here

Ok, we can determine fully now that I am about the worst blogger ever! I have the hardest time sitting down long enough to write something and post photo's. . I don't have a facebook account, because I know that people would be posting stuff, and I would not. It would be wasted on me. Just one more thing that I have to do in my opinion. But it is nice to keep in touch and know what everyone is up to every once in a while. So, school is out! Yea! And things get busy in a different way. Tyler is going to high school next year, which is so weird for me! I can't possibly be old enough to have a kid in high school! And Lanae goes to Junior high, 7th and 8th grade is our junior high. Which is totally crazy too! Everyone is growing and moving on, and needing me less and less in some ways, but more and more in others. More needing me to drive them here there and everywhere, and less of the daily maintenance stuff, like helping them get dressed and tying their shoes. Sawyer just turned 4 a few months ago. It seems like he is such a big boy now. My baby stage is finally over, and I am sad about it! But excited for the new adventures of teenagers. . . So far it has been really fun! I find that we are laughing and having fun with each other more than we are arguing with each other. This last winter wasn't as bad as the previous winter, so, Minnesota is turning out to not be so bad after all. The kids have found good friends, some good sports programs and I am liking the schools. I still feel like we just moved here, though it has been almost two years this August. Time sure does fly when you stay busy. This summer Tyler is 14, so he gets to start going to the dances, EFY and to High Adventure with our church. He also just passed his board of review , and so he is officially an Eagle scout! We haven't had the court of honor yet, that is in the works, but that is a huge accomplishment for him. Lanae is still in Travel soccer. I was not willing to pay for it this year, so, she worked and came up with the money herself. Over 400$. . . She is a good little player. Sasha, Coleman , Josh and Alia are playing association soccer through our city parks and recreation of which I am the coach of all 4 of those teams. It is so fun to be with them. But sometimes it gets too much, especially when I am out on the soccer field for 8 hours on Saturdays. I have quite the tan now though! We will be coming to Vegas, Utah and Idaho this summer, in a few weeks. . . It has been too long since we have seen everyone. We got to go to Nauvoo as a family over spring break, and went to Kansas City after thanksgiving. It was so fun to see all of our old friends that still live there. It was nice to see Nauvoo again too, and review all the history again. It has been at least 10 years for us since we went last.

So long,

Ok, so , as you all know, I am not the best at posting blogs. I hope that no one is following me too closely, because they would get very bored with me, very quickly!

I think the problem is that when the kids are in school, they all have things that they do, like choir concerts and band stuff, and grade performances and piano recitals and parties and other stuch stuff, but not the type of thing that they would want for me to post.
I can do a few photos really quick though. Everyone is growing and progressing and doing really well. We are faced with registration for high school, junior high, and getting everone else ready for spring soccer and fall football. . . . Fun times. We are enjoying every minute.
Ok, not finding where I put my photo's , it will have to wait for later.

New family Pictures

Hey,All,
Brandon commissioned a guy to do this picture for us. I think it will be our new family picture. . . What do you think? Some are obvious, but Lanae can go invisible. Sasha can produce fire, Tyler is like a batman, ninja type guy. I control the weather like storm in X men. . Sawyer can freeze someone. Coleman is super fast like Dash in Incredibles. Josh is "The beast" like on x men and Brandon is "The Hulk" that turns green. . . . I am liking the muscles!!
The other day, Tyler went to give Sawyer a kiss on his cheek, and he moved to the side and held out his hands and said, "Freeze," like his picture character. It was so funny.
Love you all. Kim

Nothing written in my planner

Ok, so, this is a rare and bizarre day. . . I looked on my calendar, and there is nothing there. Usually there is no more room left to write with all the football games and Lanae is a referee for the association soccer club. . . I usually have class parties and visiting teaching and when Ty has to mow our neighbors lawn and piano lessons and dentist appointments and scouting and activity day activities. . . I think I could go on and on about all the stuff that is in my calendar. . But nothing. That is very rare indeed. . . .
Just enough time for me to write another entry in my sad blog that gets neglected way too often.
So, some fun stuff is going on. Oh wait, I just actually looked at my blog to see what my last entry was. I am way behind. . . so, the rest of summer. . . We came back from Connecticut and went to our neighborhood pool just about every day of the week. 3 kids had summer school from the beginning of July to the Beginning of August. So that was a good break in the mundane for them. . . It was a good experience I think. And it was only until noon 4 days of the week. . . Manageable.. . Then August 13th Brandon's little sister got married in the Washington DC LDS Temple.. . It was beautiful. She married a guy named James. They are very cute together and will be so happy I am sure.
Only Brandon and I got to fly out for that one. We farmed all the kids out to friends in our neighborhood and ward for the night. We left on a Friday night and were back by 8 am sunday morning. Very quick trip. It had to be, because Monday morning of August 15 at 3:30 am, yes that is the am we took 9 kids plus our whole family up to scout camp.
Brandon is the scout master in our ward, so he got to spend a week with our fabulous boys at Many Point scout camp. Apparently it is the 2nd largest scout camp in the country. And on the other side of the lake was family camp. It was super awesome. We got a cabin to stay in, and activities planned for every day. camp counselors that supervised those activities and kind of took care of us. And it was super cheap. Especially for a Mom with her 6 kids. We brought our bikes and had a great time. I even saw a black bear running in the road in front of my van. Crazy huh! We were on the lake everyday either in canoe's, paddle boats, Kayak's , there was a water trampoline and swim lessons every day. We got to go fishing everyday. We roasted marshmellows everyday. That was the kids favorite part of course. I thought we would see Brandon more, but he was so involved with the boys getting their merit badges done, that we only saw him for one morning. That was on our anniversary. 15th I might add. . . But we had already celebrated by going to Europe, so I forgive him.
Bradon and I also started this new kettle bell class. There is a small gym type room a few miles from our house. It doesn't give me the cardio workout that I need, so I have been going 3 days a week , and then running 4 or 5 miles on the off days. . . But ooh, my muscles have been so sore from this class. It means I am doing something right. And I finally got new running shoes. My other ones have been giving me these nasty blisters on the ball of my foot for so long. I now have a huge callous on both feet, with blisters underneath. . . Ok this blog has taken me too long to do. Gotta get rollin. Love to all, Kim

Trip to Connecticut

Just as the school year ended, we all packed up the van, borrowed a trailer for our van from some dear friends of ours, and headed out to Connecticut. That is where Brandon's brother Justin and sister in law Megan live. We went to a campsite that had a bunch of cabins in a circle, and then a big mess hall type building at the head. Each family got their own cabin. We had a great time. Just being together with the cousins was great. We did family games of course, a 5K run. We hung out at the beach one day. Had a talent show and testimony meeting of course. We roasted marshmallows for smoores and played games until all hours of the night. We got to meet some new nieces that were born, and we hadn't been able to meet until then. They are soo cute. O f course.
We had a great time just hanging out with our family. We all took turns cooking and cleaning. It was great to reconnect with everyone and have some time to talk and see what is going on. . . It was so good to see everyone. The hardest part was saying goodbye at the end and head home. I don't think Sawyer wore his shoes at all the whole week. And I don't think he was actually clean the whole week. Just as soon as I would wash him, he would head out to the mud pit that is supposed to be a baseball diamond, and undo all the washing that I just made him go through. Ahh the joys of camping. It took me a week to wash all the dirt out of our clothes and bedding and umbrella's and camping chairs, and everything we brought basically.
The kids had a great time. Most of the week all the girl cousins got to sleep in their own cabin together, which they thought was fabulous, and the boys got their own. True to form, the girls cabin was well kept and tidy, while the boy cabin, smelled of boys by the end. Good memories though.
When we drove out to Connecticut, we got to stop off at my sister Sabrina's house. It was so great to see her, and her cute little house and her sweet boys. We had a good time looking around her town and attending a car show that was just down the street. I am so impressed with her and how hard she is trying to be a good mom, and to do what is right. I love her husband Eric as well. When you see them together, you can just see how much they love each other. It is so sweet!
The driving out wasn't really as bad as I thought it would be! The kids all did remarkably great! We took out the middle seat of our 12 passenger van, and put a fouton mattress down, so that Brandon and I could sleep while the other one drove. We took gas shifts. We would drive the van until it ran out of gas, then would fill up and switch. So, we weren't too tired at any time. He was gracious enough to take the midnight to 5 am shift both there and back. What a man!! We had a great time.