Here are some pictures of when Abigail was born. She was born on July, 5th 2008. She was born at 6:47 pm, so one of these pics is 3 minutes before and one is 3 minutes after her birth. The third is one of my favorites because Abigail really is the center of all of our attention-even now, 5 months later!

My kids love to get on KSL.com and look at all of the fabulous things people are selling. Of course EJ checks the gun section every day, just for fun. Well, a couple of months ago they all noticed the dog section. Every day every 10 minutes or so I'd hear "Where's magna?"......"How long would it take to get to Payson?"......."Hey look, I could get a yellow lab for $20."....."Here's a puppy that's free!"......."Will we be going anywhere near Nephi soon?"......"Can we stop in Taylorsville on the way to Thanksgiving?" At first they were sort of dreamy knowing it was not really going to happen, but as the days went by they had convinced themlselves that they could each have their very own dog. So the questions became more persistent and serious. Finally, I told them,"Guys, we are not going to have a hundred dogs, or even seven. You cannot get a dog that you can't feed, because your dad and I are responsible to feed kids, not a hundred dogs, that means that you'd have to buy all the food. If any of you wants a dog, you will have to build a pen for it, build a house for it, buy a barrel of food, and be able to buy the food to keep it full. I am not saying you can all have dogs, I am saying that if you want a dog, you have to do these things. Also, I want you to study about dogs to find out what kind would be good for you, and would not eat my ducks and geese (my pets), or the cats and kittens (our little friends). Also, I am not driving 10 hours to get a free puppy." Then all of the KSL.com searches became a little more focused. "There's a free puppy in Brigham City... how much food does a terrier eat?" So I reminded 8year old Eve, and 6year old Christian that nobody will get a dog who has not done the 3 things. Meanwhile, EJ is asking friends and neighbors for suggestions for a good breed. Finally he decided to get either a german short hair or a weimerainer. He really wanted a mix of the two. So one day he called the "trading post" a call in show on the radio, and said he wanted "a female german short hair and a male weimerainer both pups, neither castrated or elastrated". He did not get much response except a woman who called thinking he was selling these. Then he found Roxy on KSL.com, she was free and in Smithfield-ten miles away. EJ assured me he'd have the pen and house done that afternoon, so I took him to town to cash his paycheck and buy dog food. He bought 100 lbs. Eric, Marcus, and EJ went to pick up Roxy (that was already her name and EJ kind of likes it) on Wednesday night after scouts. She is a nice dog and EJ loves her. He is the happiest kid on Earth.

I went with EJ into the cow pen to see the house and pen he had built for Roxy. I don't like to be by animals that are bigger than a dog without a fence between us, so while I was taking pictures and had my back turned to the cows I was afraid they'd come get me. I said, "EJ, you'd tell me if the cows were about to charge me, right?" He said, "Of course." Then I turned around and all 4 of the cows were right behind me and he said, "Oh, sorry." The big black cow is huge, not fat, just tall, and she moos very loudly! I took a picture of all the cows right next to me, but the picture got messed up-I was probably shaking. EJ is 5'9" and the big black cow's rump is almost as high as his head. Did I mention I do not like being by big animals? I finished taking pictures quickly and got out of the cow pen!

We took family pictures a few weeks ago for our family home evening activity. I spent the whole day canning apple butter. We had decided the night before what to wear, so on Monday (the day of the picture) I reminded the children to make sure that the outfit they wanted to use was clean. They all told me they were clean or in the washer, so I continued to can. At around 7:00pm or so I finished canning and jumped into the shower. When I was finally blow dried, made-up, and dressed, I looked at the kids and only some of them had their clothes on for pictures. Christian did not have one clean pair of pants that fit him, that did not have holes in the knees. I ended up puting a pair of Marcus' pants on him and tucking the excess fabric under him on the stool, then his shirt was too small, and the bottom button would not do up. I didn't notice until looking at the pictures that Eve's skirt was too short, and that Eric's and EJs shirt look almost identical, though they are completely different colors in real life. By the time we cropped for Christian's pants and Eve's skirt, found pictures where all-or most kids were looking forward, that included Eric (the timer kept going off before he got there), did not have bunny ears or loser Ls, we had very little to choose from. This is my very fun and cute family-and yes we all look much better in person-at least I hope we do! By the way, Eric and I agree we need to try again.

In the picture are: (back) Tracy-15, Me-34, EJ-14, Eric-39, (middle)Eve-8, Abigail-4months, Marcus-11, (front)Samuel-3, Christian-6

By the way, none of the people in the roller coaster picture are actually in my family,

so don't bother looking for any resemblance.

Our Own Roller Coaster

I often feel like my life is a roller coaster- more like a series of roller coasters that we hop from one to the next. My family's projects or activities are almost always HUGE. We jump on and fly together to the end, or more often we jump to the next just before the current roller coaster actually comes to a stop!