The Latest

I watched my 11 year old nephew, Connor, for a week and a few days while his family was traveling and such. I didn't quite know how to entertain an 11 year old. We only have toys for a preschooler and toddler. But I recently bought a "50 science things to make and do" oversized flashcard box. So I let him look through those and decide on a few he wanted to make. One of the experiments he chose was a foaming monster. He knows a family in our ward, so we had a couple of their kids over. It was great because they decorated their monsters first with colored paper, which took at least 45 minutes :). Then we put vinegar, dish soap, food coloring, and baking soda in and wacthed it foam. I helped Brooklyn make one so she had fun also.

We've been having warm, warm weather. On the news they said not to go outside, as it could reach 90 degrees :). Damon just scoffed when I told him, as he is from Dallas. We enjoyed the sun by going on a spur of the moment camping trip. Damon called me at work in the morning and told me the Jensens had invited us to go camping for two nights. I said, "sure, I don't care what we do this weekend, as long as I'm in the sun." Deb and Marc have a camper trailer that they keep stocked with nonperishable food. So she said meals were taken care of, just to bring milk and bread. We added doritos, soda, and some fruit, which in the end the Jensens really appreciated. We spent Saturday playing on the bank of a cool river. For some reason I could not muster any energy, so I volunteered to stay in camp while Devin took a nap, and get in a few zzz's myself. Unfortunately, Devin only slept half an hour, so we got up, and met up with the rest of the gang. The jensens bought a few more inner tube flaoties. One person would drive and the rest of us floated lazily down the river. We took Brooklyn with us once, and we had a little mishap. She had a life jacket on, and was riding on Damon's back as he lay on a full bed floater. But we ran into a tree that started to tip Damon, so he threw Brooklyn off his back so he could hold her up. But the current was still pulling him and his float was overturning. He told me to take Brooklyn, which I was able to do and hold her on my lap. Scared Brooklyn pretty bad. She did not have as much fun after that. She cried and kept telling us to "watch out," after that. Earlier in the day she had been playing by the bank in one of the inner tubes and had tipped over and went face first into the water. Hopefully she's not scarred for life. I'll have to get her into some swim lessons some day. Poor Girl. Sorry I don't have any pictures. The only one I have is of Brooklyn falling asleep eating dinner tonight. We got home, cleaned up and went to church. Damon fixed chicken nuggets for her for dinner around 5:00, and she couldn't eat them she was so tired. Damon came to get me to show me her sleeping on the kitchen counter. She protested when we told her to go take a nap, but fell asleep again trying to dip her nugget. I think we wore the kids out.

And an Update: I had a request to see a better picture of Brooklyn's haricut. I don't know if this is a better picture. But I get compliments on her haircut all the time, and from stangers, so I must have done a good job, but maybe it is just Brooklyn's beautiful, thick hair that makes the cut.

I hate to get political, but . . .

So last week, Exxon Mobil reported it's quarterly profits at 11.7 billion. That is 11.7 billion in PROFITS in three months. They broke the record for quarterly profits of any U.S. company ever. They broke the world record. The top 6 big oil companies reported a joint earning of just over 50 billion in quarterly profits. Gas prices have stabilized and even dropped a little. But I think there is and has been some serious price gouging going on, and I think it is time the government stepped in. Actually, I'm curious as to why they haven't already. The only reason I can think is that the top officials are getting money off all this also. I read in an article that both McCain and Obama recieved big money from oil companies for their campaigns. 8 years ago when Bush took office, gas was less than $2.00 a gallon. Can you imagine paying that now? I think Americans have stood by and watched gas prices rise because we think we're somehow being patriotic. If we don't have loved ones in the military, the truth is we are untouched by the war in Iraq. It doesn't affect our personal lives the way it does Iraqis. So we feel duty bound to pay the high cost of continually rising gas prices and not complain too loudly about it. But the truth is, with Exxon Mobil reporting that much profits, we are not paying for a war at the pump, we are making a few oil men rich. I mean, it all seems a little crooked to me. And the economy is floundering because of it. The cost of living is increasing exponentially. Local police and fire forces have had to make severe staff cuts becasue they can't meet their budgets. I can't totally blame the housing crisis on big oil, or the fact that unemployment is up and every day I hear of companies going out of business and millions of americans losing their jobs, but I'm sure it contributes. And I want something done about it. No more excuses.

Disclaimer: I'm not as well researched on this subject as I'm sure I should be if I'm going to rant like this. But I had to get it off my chest. I hope I haven't offended anyone.

FYI: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/?q=exxon+profits&submit=Search&id=11881780&FORM=AE&os=0&gs=1&p=1&adunitid=939&propertyid=3501

It's official

We have now lived in the Seattle area for a year. Not in our house for a year yet, but the kids and I drove out of Utah last year on July 5th. And time is going so fast, I can't believe it. For the 4th this year we went camping for the three day weekend with the Jensens. I don't have any pics, as I (yet again) forgot my camera and had to rely on Marc and Deb to take pictures for us, so I'll have to wait for those. We went to the church site they use for the girls camps up here. It's a pretty cool place. They have this huge waterslide that you ride innertubes down. We camped there last year also, but I forgot my swimsuit then so I didn't get to go. I didn't make that mistake this year, and it was totally worth it. We canooed and tried to get the kids to sit on a horse that either Damon or I would have led around a little pasture. We had no luck with that. Devin would at least pet the horse, Brooklyn wouldn't even do that much. Maybe next time. And I cut Brooklyn's hair short for the summer. Poor girl, she would just be sweating around her hair line, and our house doesn't have air conditioning. She looks more like her birth mom with short hair than I've ever seen. I should have found a professional to cut it, but I got antsy and cut it myself. It looks ok, but I can see it's really uneven.

Boogyin'

Brooklyn and Devin are dancing to the Dixie Chicks while I'm jamming out making dinner. Previous to this they were holding hands to form a circle and dancing, it was so funny. This one is pretty funny too though. You hear me in the middle of the recording telling them to do it again. I apologize for my voice. Do I really sound like that? A voice coach told me once that if I learned to speak correctly, the sound I hear in my head of my own voice when I speak would sound just like when I hear my recorded voice. Does that make sense? Basically we all need to speak more nasally if we want to speak "correctly."

Sunny Summer Days in The Northwest

It's Sunny! and Beautiful! Funny how quickly I forget the rain, and just relish how beautiful the Northwest is now that summer has finally arrived. We got out the kiddie pool this week and set it up on the back deck. I had to empty it and put it away the same day because Devin would jump in it every chance he got regardless of what he was wearing. They would want to come in, so I would bring them in, dry them off, and get them dressed; and the next time the screen door opened, Devin would run out and jump in the pool. We had a lot of wet clothes that day. :)

Yeah Me! I ran my first 10K!

My time was 56.42. That is less than 10 minute miles! Damon ran it in 48.16. He skunked me, but that meant he was free to take the pictures at the finish line. The real rockstar is my friend Heather, who I ran with most of the way. She is 12 weeks along, carrying her 5th baby, and she ran the 10K today. Hats off to her. Then we went home and took naps. :)

Actually today is the town's birthday celebration, "Maple Valley Days". Damon and I came home after the run, hurried and showered, and left again with the kids to catch the town parade. We just made it to the end of the parade, but we were on our bikes (Damon was pulling the kids in the bike trailor) and they let us ride our bikes up the length of the parade while it was still going on so the kids could see it. It's pretty cool living in a small town. There weren't any huge floats or anything, but there were horses, and the kids liked that.

Then we came home for lunch, Damon and I were both starving, and really tired. And everybody took a nap.

Our trip to Utah

My younger sister, Liz delivered a beautiful, little boy 6 weeks ago. We went to Utah two weeks ago to visit the little guy. He is tiny. I think he was 5.5 lbs when he was born, but now he weighs 7 lbs. We had a good time and enjoyed the sunshine. I was able to run the Provo river trail and go for a bike ride with my dad. The man is a machine. He is 71 years old and bikes around 100 miles a month. We got hit with a hail storm while we were riding, but we took refuge in a bread store. The hail and rain stopped after about 10 minutes, and we were able to continue. We also went bowling with the kids and some of their cousins, and to the Bean Museum on BYU campus with my mom. The last picture is Devin and Brooklyn in the car at the beginning of our trip home. It seemed like we were driving into the sunset for about 2 hours. We loved seeing Grandma Bethers, my folks, and all the cousins and aunts. Thanks for the good times guys!