Colin's Birthday Party

So, everybody know that I am the nosy sister-in-law. I got on Colin's facebook page and e-mailed all of his friends that were listed as attending BYU or living in the Utah Valley. Andrew and Shannon and Kim and Spencer were there also. The first order of business. Get on the Ferris Wheel. (notice the wall in the background...it is coming along).
Burn Dinner (set the house smoke detectors off upstairs). Got get more meat. Eat dinner.
Get back on the Ferris Wheel to see if you could make yourself sick (that was litterally their intention). Once again...notice the wall and the gates.
Then, open presents. Shannon gave him a book "The Last Lecture". The author had died the previous Friday.

Hellgate Jetboats

So, back to the vacation to Oregon. One night we went on the Hellgate Jetboats.
Jonathan had a blast. Guess why....
The driver would gun it, hit the brakes and send the nose of the boat into a dive and it would submerge the front of the boat down into the river, effectively getting anyone in the boat soaking wet. This wouldn't be so bad, but it was at 7:00pm...the Dinner Tour.
This is the site of where they filmed "The River Wild". To make it look like Montana, they covered the hill with fake trees and shrubs. We also saw the site of the big river jump at the end of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. If you ever find yourself in Southern Oregon...I highly reccomend this trip.

Seven Oaks Farm (Part of an Oregon Vacation)

At the end of June, before Jonathan had to return to work from his unscheduled vacation, we took a vacation to Oregon to visit my family. One problem. I was to watch my neighbors boy that week. Solution. Take my neighbor on the vacation with us. Three adults, one infant, two three year olds and one 10 year old packed in the mini van for 13 hours each way. Yep...we are crazy. Anyway, on our last day there my mom called Seven Oaks Farm in Central Point. They hold petting zoo and farm education for all elementary kids once a year and the FFA Students at the high school help. I went there as a child and helped in high school.

So, even though they had postponed the zoo due to drought and slow crops, the owner allowed us to come and see the animals. This was Asher's first time on any horse alone. Come to think of it, same with Alex (my mom is holding him). We saw goats and cows and ducks and dogs....you get the picture. But the horse was the highlight of the day.
The third picture is of a lady who insisted on doing all the jobs on the farm. I couldn't figure out her problem. Anyway, we took a group picture, got in the mini van and drove 13 hours home.

Playing in the Provo River

This is a low spot in the Provo river and we decided to load everybody that was at the house (except Jon and Alex) and take the dogs to the river. Lexi (yellow lab) actually taught Mug (chocolate lab) how to swim. He was scared of being in water where he couldn't touch bottom and now, after seeing her swim, loves it. The have now graduated to fetching duck decoys.

A Bear Knows Where I Live....

There was a balloon race here in Provo that is held every year over 4th of July weekend. All of the balloons take off three consecutive days and try to complete tasks as well as predict their landing. Well, on the last day of competition, this was one of the unpredicted landings. Smokey the Bear landed in the field across the street. The pile of bricks is in my yard (it is now an actual fence).

The second picture is of them deflating smokey and the thrid picture is the funniest. That field is full of goats but only one llama who wanted to know just what was going on. He was constantly in the way and trying to kiss everybody. The man behind him on the right is the balloon pilot.

As they were loading up the packed balloon, the llama started attacking the truck. It was so funny.

The Little Bugger is Growing Too Fast

Alex has learned to sit up. Actually this picture was taken back in early July so by now, he is nearly walking. He did the soldier crawl for a while then progressed to an actual crawl. The look is still the same. He is just so proud of himself.
Jonathan got me the bike trailer for Mothers Day and this was the first time we used it. You can barely see Asher in the trailer.
The third picture is of our neighbors son, Zane. He is only 10 but has taken a big brother role with Alex. They love playing togeather, especially on the trampoline. This picture is of Zane playing the playstaion when Alex crawled up on his lap to watch. My camera got his attention.

Trip to Arizona

Lindsay was kind enough to drive me (Kari) and the kids down to Arizona to visit everybody. While there Daisy felt in important to compete with Alex for his passifier. Alex won, of course. But it was really cute. One the way home, Lindsay started teaching Alex how to drive. Just because it was when we were stopped at a gas station (one of many many stops) doesn't mean anything right?

Thanks again Lindsay. Your the best.
Kari

ps have you figured out that I finally learned how to post a picture.

Yard Hazards

Tracks left from a stuck cement truck



















Jon and I got cement pourde as footings for our new fence that we are building. The first truck came in around 40 ton and sunk in our yard near the swamp. You can see his tracks he left in our yard. Lucky for us, we ordered enough cement to require two trucks. So when the second truck showed up, he was able to pull the first truck out of the mud.
Jon and Kari

Yard Toys

Jonathan and Asher have been having fun in our backyard. When we moved in we inherited a trampoline. Asher has just learned how to stay on his feet and the lower picture is Jonathan teaching Asher how to land on his bottom. The upper picture is our ferris wheel. It is called the "Whirly Bird" although I am not sure why. It is like a two person swing but when you get going really high you flip upside down. Jon convinced me to go on it and I did. But the louder I screamed, the faster he went and the more we flipped...even with me screaming "NO....Stop".

Also, if you can see in the background of the ferris wheel, our yard is all torn up. We are building a cinderblock fence. More pictures to come.
Jonathan, Kari, Asher and Alex

Taiki's picture

Taiki wanted to post this picture. He says that there is some kind of message in there. love to all. Spencer, Rieko, Taiki, Kenta, and ???...

Taiki

Some more news...

We have recently found out that some of the biological fathers' family has decided to come forward to adopt some of the kids. We now don't even know if Gabby will still be moving in with us. Also something was said about Manny being moved to live with the fathers' son, yes i know, he has 3 older kids from a previous relationship. Peter and I have decided that we will be periodically fasting for the boys, not necessarily for them to stay with us (although that's what we want), but for whatever's best for them. We'll be fasting every Sunday and probably some days in between. If anyone would like to join in we would really appreciate it. All we really ask is that you keep the boys in your hearts and prayers. We love you all and thank you so much for all of your support! Peter, Lindsay, Manny and Angel

Shannon's first tri-athalon

Shannon completed her first tri-athalon today and loved it. She did great and one of the first things she said when she was done was that she wanted to do more. She is in great shape and looks and feels good. I need to get into shape to keep up. I run about once about every two weeks. I think that should do it.

We did it!!!

well i finally graduated. it is a fantastic feeling to be done. i want to thank all of you for your support during this long and difficult time. My degree is a B.S.E. in Civil Engineering. i am taking a couple of weeks off before i go to work at Kiewit Western Co. they are a large Heavy Civil Construction company that has worked on projects like the light rail, the widening of the US 60 between Florence junction and Superior, the water treatment plant in Gilbert and lots of other stuff. right now i am enjoying fishing, spending time with my wife and boys and in-laws as they are here right now and will be until the beginning of June. we will be taking a trip up north next week to SLC, Idaho, Yellowstone, Glacier, etc. they have always wanted to see that part of the country. this is all thanks to a generous graduation gift from Granny. so for those of you living up there i will be in touch and let you know what our schedule is like. maybe we can get together. this is what is going on in my life.

Just a special thanks to Rieko. i know you all know that i would not have been able to complete my degree with out her gentle pushing. so thank you sweetheart i can't say enough in gratitude. i love you.

see you all later. Spencer

Some distressing news...

We got a call from CPS today and evidently the Aunt of the kids has decided that she wants to adopt Jasmine. Also their other Aunt has decided that she would like to adopt Brittany. So this means that Jasmine and Brittany are probably not going to be moving in with us. But for some crazy reason no one is stepping forward to take Gabby so CPS still wants to work on transitioning her to live with us. So although we won't have all five of the kids, as of right now, we still might get 1 more. We'll know more about it after the next CFT which is the 23rd and we'll definately keep you posted. Thanks for all of your continued prayers, love and support.

Granny's Cabin

The cabin is in the very lower left hand corner right above the "nt" in Pointer. Olathe is labeled in the top of the picture and Montrose in right at the "50" at the center right of the picture.


Just in case anybody gets lost or has forgotten what it looks like here are some pictures of Granny's cabin.