My Handsome Boys

Chandler (7) and Davis (4) have become best buds.
Here's a list of their favorite things to do this summer:
1. Build forts with anything: belts, cardboard, sheets, bedding, towels.
2. Go to Tattoo Island Water Park. Chandler loves the Drop Zone.
3. Camp at Sunset/Manresa Beach with Zach, Dylan, Landon, and Connor.
4. Ride bikes to 'Shop n Go.'
5. Spend all of their money at 'Shop n Go.'
6. Miss Olivia while she's in Utah.
7. Count the days until they go to Utah.
8. Eat snowcones, popsicles, and cookie dough.
9. Boogie Board in the pool and Pacific Ocean.
And give lots of smiles, loves, and hugs to everyone!

Matchbox 20 Concert

Jason and I escaped to Paso Robles last night to
watch one of our favorite groups perform. And
they rocked! We sang every lyric and danced the
night away! Rob Thomas, lead singer, is a great
entertainer, and easy on the eyes! This is the
second time we've seen Rob Thomas live and we
will definitely see him again, even if it means driving
2 hours each way on a weeknight!

We miss Olivia!

Our beautiful Olivia is visiting the Parkin family in Utah.

We waved goodbye to her on Sunday, July 20th, and it

has now been one week. We're all missing her, especially

me. I talked to her this evening on the phone and she was

homesick and started to sob. My heart broke and I passed

the phone to Jason. Her cousins left for Idaho today so she

is now the only grandchild staying at Grandpa and Grandma

Parkin's until this Saturday when her brothers join her! I

hope her little heart can make it until she's reunited with

her brothers!

You Funny!

This formal family photo was taken May 28, 2008. It was my

34th birthday. Jason surprised me with tickets to see

Carrie Underwood that night. We had a great time! My friends

spoiled me with a day of pampering and I was surrounded by

family, including my mom and dad from Oregon. What more

could a girl want?

Jason

Jason on his 35th birthday. My favorite Valentine. This

is one of the only pictures I could find of the Cupid. Seeing

that it's July, I'll have to find a more recent snapshot. I just

had to include this handsome man on our family blog!

Fearless 4th Years

I had the priviledge of being a 4th year counselor in June 2008 This is a silly picture of my cabin. It was my first year as a counselor. I learned alot about myself, my testimony was strengthened, and I grew to love these beautiful girls and my amazing co-counselor: Alison. Green shirts: Christine Godfrey, Samantha Roberts, Jessica Page, Amanda Barker, Andrea Page, Holly, Corynn Call. Junior Counselors: Brittany Snyder, Kelly Wright, Cristal Coronado. Fearless leaders: Alison Kellogg and me

Davis

You can't help but just love this cute 'lil thing! Weighing in at a whopping 35 pounds, Davis is a ball of energy. He was antsy at the swim competition and asked me if he could jump in the pool to cool off. He was wearing denim shorts (with a belt 'cuz he has no waist to hold 'em up) and I said, "Who cares? Go for it, you fish!" Davis was so happy to jump in and take a break from the long morning at Clovis West Aquatics.

Clovis Swim Finals

Chandler competed in the freestyle and breast stroke events. He placed 4th in freestyle out of about 15 competitors his age. We left before the final results were tallied so we're not sure how he placed overall for breast stroke, although he placed 3rd in his heat. We were told that ribbons would be mailed home. I'm sure Chandler will check the mailbox daily to see if he won a second ribbon.

Here is our little fish named Chandler. This was his first year in the Summer League program. Practices were held Mon-Friday and Chandler competed in 3 meets. He won his heat at the first meet and won an extra ribbon. Chandler was so excited.

Here's our Olivia competing in the butterfly stroke. She is very good and placed 1st in her heat, and we believe she placed 1st overall but are anxiously awaiting the ribbons to be mailed home. Olivia can "fly" one-armed. She's super talented.

On her mark, get set. . .DIVE! Olivia is a natural swimmer. She has a very good line and is a great diver. (She didn't acquire these skills from her mom!) Olivia placed 3rd out of 25 at the first meet for freestyle. Her time was about 20.5 seconds. It was her fastest race. She plans to compete in swimming in the Fall and Winter instead of gymnastics.

Ambulance Ride

Check this one off my list of things I've never done: ride in an ambulance as a patient. Early Sunday morning, July 13th, I awoke to excruciating pain. It was barely 2 am and the pain was unbearable and intensifying. Worse than labor pains. I was screaming and moaning and curled in a ball on the bedroom floor. Jason felt helpless and called 911. He had never seen me in so much pain. Three firemen and 2 EMT's arrived and I was quickly taken to Clovis Community Hospital. Jason stayed behind with the kids until my friend, Sue Ashcraft, arrived to watch them. It was 3:30 am!

The good thing about arriving to the ER in an ambulance is that I was given a bed to sleep in until a doctor became available. I was bleeding and in pain but the painkillers soon took effect and I was able to relax. Diagnosis: ruptured ovarian cyst. I was discharged and soon found the comfort of my bed. I slept until 3:30 pm. My dear friends, Barbara and Sue, helped with the children, meals, and comforted me at my bed. I consider them family and so blessed for their friendships and love.

The pain has subsided but I'm running a fever and I feel like an elephant sat on my stomach. I have an appointment with my GYN/OB on Wednesday morning and this is probably the only time I've ever looked forward to visiting my GYN. Hopefully the worst is over and I can resume my busy life soon. It's hard to stay put!

Swim, Bike, Run

Finishing an extremely difficult 25 mile ride. I was giggling the whole time. I love to cycle. I made up a lot of time from the swim and was encouraged as I cycled past females who beat me out of the lake.

Here's Abby. Matt Lievre, Demitri Gonos, Jon Furtado, and Abby successfully completed the CIM marathon. We showered our coach, Abby, with thank you gifts. We couldn't have done it without her.

Here I am crossing the finish line. My chip time, or official time, was 4 hours and 37 minutes, only 30 seconds behind Matt. I ran ahead of my group at mile 10 and was on my own until Matt caught up to me at mile 17. Thank goodness. I was hitting the wall, physically, and we both needed moral support.

My friend, Abby Sipes, encouraged me to complete a triathlon in May. Abby has completed many triathlons, including the Ironman (2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike ride, 26.2 mile run) and is always looking for a new guinea pig. This past year Abby encouraged me to run the CIM Marathon and Rock -n-Roll marathon as well as my first triathlon, Wildflower in Lake San Antonio, California. Jason trained for CIM but was unable to run. He resumed training in the Spring and successfully completed his first marathon on June 2, 2008.

Here are some snapshots from these grueling events. I'm hooked. The pain is real, the training is long, but the feeling of accomplishment is worth every drop of sweat and muscle cramp. Not to mention the wonderful friendships developed along the journey. Thanks, Abby.

Chandler's 7th Birthday

Chandler's 7th birthday. One of our birthday traditions is to decorate the living and dining rooms with streamers and balloons. The kids love it! Jason stayed up late decorating and wrapping presents for Chandler's special day. When Chandler woke up he immediately raced downstairs to see his presents placed in front of the fireplace. He really wanted Nintendo DS for his birthday so that he could text his friend, Nixson. We let him open one present before do-nuts. Chandler smiled when he saw that it was a Harry Potter place station game. He'd have to wait until after dinner to see if the Nintendo D.S. was hiding in one of the wrapped boxes.

Jason stayed home from work and my 4 kids played the Harry Potter videogame all day! At 1:00 they met me at my school and we went to the movies. The boys saw Wall-E and the girls saw American Girl. After the movies, we came home and opened more presents. Chandler was grinning from ear to ear when he opened his D.S. game. He got it! Next, we drove to Chuck-E-Cheese which happens to be Chandler's favorite place to eat pizza and play video games. He loves the honey pot/bee game because he wins many tickets. Most of his tokens are used on this game! After dinner we invited Nixson and Ryann Wood to eat cake and open presents. Nixson brought his D.S. game and the two boys had fun texting!

It's hard to believe that my sweet, easy-going baby is 7. He is a calming spirit in our home. I love his hugs and smiles. Chandler is an explorer. He is often found digging for meteorites in the backyard and making homes for insects or other creatures. He loves science, rocks, and bugs. I love this little guy so much and I'm so blessed to be his mom.

Blog. Blog. Blog.

Sounded more like blah, blah, blah until this morning. After years of unsuccessful scrapbooking and guilty feelings because I can't keep up with the 1000's of pictures scattered across my craft room, I was excited to discover that blogs can be uploaded into book-making websites for custom scrapbooks. Yeah.

My poor husband. The 100's of papers and stickers collecting dust. The die-cut machine. Fancy scissors. No more easy birthday or Christmas or Mother's Day gift ideas.