Why I Blog

 (This was the first picture I ever posted on the blog in 2008)

When I first started blogging I did it because I lived so far away from my family and friends and I thought that they might be interested in getting a little glimpse of what we were up to every now and then.  At the time Dallin and Thomas were preschoolers and Jack was a tiny baby.  I had a lot more time then (even though I thought I was insanely busy), so it was also kind of fun for me.  After several years of blogging, I have accepted the fact that the reason that I started blogging is not the reason I have continued.  My parents are not great about checking it, but my sister, one of my sisters-in-law, a few of my friends and some cousins mention that they read it on occasion.  I guess it keeps some of them in the loop, and I am happy that they are interested in knowing what is going on with us from time to time.  But - - the real reason I have continued to blog, even when almost everyone I know has abandoned their blogs, is because I love the record of our lives that I have inadvertently created.



Every once in awhile I will go back and read through some old posts and I am so glad that I have taken the time to get on here and write and share pictures when I can.  I love looking at those pictures of my kids when they were so little and reliving old memories.




So, for those of you who actually do check my blog, you have surely noticed that there are lots of spelling, grammatical, and punctuation errors in my writing and my pictures are never edited.  Sometimes when I take the time to go back and read a post I am pretty embarrassed by some of the mistakes I have made in my writing, but at the end of the day, I can assure you that you will continue to see them.  I am lucky to get a post up and I don't have time for picture editing, or proofreading.  If I tried to make every post perfect before I published it, this blog could not continue, and I personally need it to continue so that seven years from now I can look back at the posts from this year and appreciate how little my kids looked and all the memories we made.

These boys are the light of my life and they are growing up way too fast - so I had better document these times the best I can.  With all of the challenges and frustrations that come along with raising a bunch of boys, I still  cannot imagine another period of my life being better than these years of raising my family.

Pinewood Derby and House Progress

We had our pack pinewood derby a couple of weeks ago.  We can never seem to make our cars very fast.  I think that some dads are just way way way more into it than Jeremy is.  However, Jeremy has always been good at woodworking and he is pretty creative, so the boys always do well in show.  This year Dallin took first in show and Thomas took second.  That was nice since last year Thomas took first in show and Dallin's first year he took second in show.  This was Dallin's last year of pinewood derby.  All three of his cars are red and they will look really good together in his room in the new house.  I would take a nice shot of all three of them together, but that will have to wait until he has that new room because right now his first two are buried deep in storage.

Dallin with his champion red Mustang.  (I know, I totally get mother of the year award for getting my boys'  awards sewn on their shirts in such a timely manner.)

Thomas with his 2nd place red angry bird.  Both of the boys cars were really cute!!

Thomas has one more year and next year Jack will be making a pinewood derby too.  With five boys we still have a lot of pinewood derby cars to look forward to.  We are down five, just ten to go!!

Now, onto a house update.  We haven't made a lot of progress, since we went to Oregon on spring break and then Jeremy spent the next week down with the flu.  But finally today he finished getting the fill dirt in the foundation and getting it compacted.  I was shocked at how much time this took, and I was even more shocked at how expensive fill dirt is.  Yikes!!

 
This is a shot from the other side of the house.  We obviously haven't prepared the porches or garage yet, as they will be poured later.

But - - the portions for the actual house are all nice and level and compacted - - - - just in time for the plumber to come in and dig them all up!  :)

Spring Break Trip - Day 5

Our final day in Oregon started in Cascade Locks.

This was our view from our hotel room in Cascade Locks.  It had a nice view of the Columbia River and The Bridge of the Gods.

We drove back through the gorge and stopped at Horsetail Falls.  This picture was taken by a nice German man that we met there.

I snapped this picture because I loved all the pretty work along the roads on the Historic Columbia River Highway.

We stopped again at Multnomah Falls.  It was way less crazy first thing in the morning.  I was glad we stopped again because I could get a good picture of the beautiful lodge there.  You can see the falls in the background.

I, of course, took advantage of the calmer atmosphere and snapped a few more shots.

I believe these were called Wahkeena Falls.  They were another easy stop right on the road.

One last look at the Gorge as we were driving out.

After spending part of the day in the Gorge we drove to the Portland Airport and checked in.  We had lunch there, which I only mention because I had my first Banh Mi sandwich, and it was delicious. ( I am wishing I was at the Portland Airport right now so I could have another one.)  I will have to find a way to recreate that sandwich here at home.  Jeremy is pretty good with Asian food, so we will probably be able to figure it out together.

We flew to Phoenix and picked up our little boys at Emma's house.  They had a great time there with Emma, Ben and their cousins - - thanks guys!!  We headed back to Taylor and we are glad to all be together again.

I asked Dallin and Thomas what their favorite part of the trip was.  Dallin said he loved all of it, but he loved the ocean most of all.  Thomas said he couldn't pick a favorite it was all perfect.  I said "Wow, there is nothing you would change?"  He said "Stay longer."  They both keep asking when we are going to take a trip to Oregon again.  It was a successful trip for sure!!