GRANDPA

Life is funny. I know we have all been hoping Grandpa could move on because he was ready, but somehow it's still hard. I guess though that is only applicable to the ones left behind. Oddly enough, before I got this mornings call I was laying in bed thinking about all the great times I had with Gramps. There are so many! I was blessed to be raised down the street from them. I will always remember the whistling. I could tell Grandpa was on his way as soon as he hit the sidewalk (yes it was that loud). I remember running out on the driveway and looking down the street for him. There he would be, hands in his pockets, sauntering, and whistling. I loved running to meet him, it never got old.

An earlier memory than that came when I lived above his dental shop and I would go down when he was done and visit while they cleaned up for the day. Grandma singing and Grandpa whistling.

I remember the countless things he built for his grand kids and my mom. I guess that was my attachment to my parents house. Him. The tree house, the shelves, the bookcases, the wood floors, and the memorable arguments with my dad regarding proper craftsmanship.

Summer. When we wanted to go swimming we merely walked to Grandpas and he would drop whatever he was doing to accompany us to the pool. He would then proceed to time my swimming laps and rate my dives offering a blizzard if I could shave off some time or up my score. He even swam with me once or twice. He was always good for a Popsicle, ice cream, watermelon, or cookie. He was big into treats!

He used to take me with him to "pay the bills" which consisted of me running the payment into the various places of business all over town. I never minded cause I loved just being with Gramps.

One of the other great memories is that of Yellowstone and Island Park. I loved doing this with Grandma and Grandpa and sometimes they would take only me. Then they would buy me a souvenir at Old Faithful and I thought I was a princess. I loved the picnics on "the property".

As I got older he still came through for me, like when I needed a boat made for Young Women Camp. You better believe it was the fastest and the best. Perfection was key.

Then there was his remarkable memory. If I needed help with Math I could go down the street and Grandpa would remember all the rules and theories and the berate my mom for forgetting. "How can you not remember your Geometry theorems?" Too bad I didn't inherit that one.

When I got my first boyfriend he conveniently forgot his name every time he saw him (which was not infrequent) always referring to him as "Leroy" I thought it was funny!

He was always good for a laugh. He ran a stop sign one time and clearly startled the lady who had the right of way and had started to go. All he said was, "Ha! Scared the pants of that old bitty!" Other great sayings included:
"It's better to keep your mouth shut and appear stupid than to open it and remove all doubt." This has proved very useful in my life.
"I'll take two of those, one to throw up on and one to cover it up with."
Frequently when I called looking for my mom he would reply, "She's down at the pool hall shootin' pool" or
"She broke her leg and we had to shoot her."
There were so many great lines but, I think my brother and cousins could do more justice to them.

I know this isn't the greatest picture of Gramps but, I love it because it reminds me of the good times and he is holding little Larkin. He thought she was cool.

Thanks for all the great memories, love, kindness, and the wonderful example you showed me. I love you Grandpa!

It's a Girl!!!!!

We just got back from an ultrasound! I was certain that we were doomed to another boy! I had myself resigned to that fact, so you can imagine my surprise when they said it was a Girl! Maybe I have suffered enough with these mischevious boys! Only last week I found Oliver and Sawyer each with a nail polish bottle in their bedroom. One blue and one bright pink. They had painted the carpet, each other, parts of Larkins room and some of their door. All contents of the bottles were now on the carpet. I started crying, took the bottles and just tried not to kill them. Instead I put them to bed. Not my favorite day. Oh well. Relief that we are having a girl and hopefully she will be more mellow.

Diving at Esmerelda

This is one of our last dives. This dive was an absolute blast. So, much fun. We all thought the camera was on picture mode not video so, that is why we just stare at it like dopes. Anyway, this video also contains our dive master George and my sister-in-law Angie, and brother-in-;law Brett. Enjoy!

Larkin's Tooth as told by Grandma Karen!

So I thought Larkin was going to wait until you got home before she lost her tooth, but it was just barely hanging on. I talked her into letting me tie dental floss on it, numbed it, and told her to pull it out. She was crying saying, "I can't do it." I said, "do you want me to do it?" She said "yes." I asked, "will you still love me?" She answered, "Maybe." So I said, "I am not going to until you tell me you will still love me." She agreed and I pulled fast. It popped out and then we couldn't find it. Finally Madison found it. So the tooth fairy will come tonight. She wanted you to call her so she could tell you. Love mom

KIDS AT THE RANCH

I just received this email from my cute mother-in-law! The children are apparently taking to the good ol' country life better than I had anticipated. Apparently they are having the time of their lives and most likely have forgotten all about us!

La Isla Bonita

Yes! We are in San Pedro! Madonna we concur. This is La Isla Bonita. The view from our house is incredible. The culture is really fun. Both children and adults speak Spanish and English. Let's hear it for America we are holding fast to English only while even the 3rd world countries surpass us! SUPER! Anyway, I am sure there are many of you out there right now dying of shock! Amber, Aunt Renee! I am officially updating my blog. Take time to get some Oxygen if needed . . . .Okay, on with the story. We were able to go scuba diving yesterday which was great. A lot of fish and reef to see. The guide told us is was drift diving so that it was fairly easy. Yes! I love to drift dive, no hard swimming required right? Wrong. He neglected to tell us or rather I neglected to hear that we would still be swimming back to the boat! The positive outlook here was that hopefully I expended at least a thousand calories! We then went snorkeling with sharks and rays. Our island grown guides were not shy in the least and wasted no time grabbing hold of both species so that we could pet them. It was pretty amazing. When we arrived home I was so wiped out from the days events I went to bed at 5pm and didn't awaken until 9 am. Not my proudest moment but, everyone else did the same so, I wasn't all alone. The previous days dive had also worn us out. The boat ride to the dive site was long and choppy! If that didn't nauseate us suffiently the dive itself won out. When we were doing our safety stop I was losing it. I was trying to remember if I could vomit through my regulator. (The answer is yes by the way) I was able to hold out though and just make it to the surface before I started retching repeatedly. I looked for Michael only to realize that he was engaged in the same activity which we continued all the way back to shore! It was extremeley memorable. So, next dive we took dramamine and sudafed! All that aside, its has been wonderful and we are busy making memories! Hope this post finds all of you well and hopefully you will all quickly recover from the shock of finding a new entry on my blog!

OLIVER

So, today as I was contemplating what to post on the blog I remembered something Oliver said a few weeks ago. Okay so, it's not recent news and some have already heard the tale, but this is all I could come up with since my camcorder is missing a cord and I cannot upload to the computer ): I was in the office working over the internet (thank you Al Gore) and Oliver was busy dropping crayons through a cord hole in the desk top. So, I told him to pick up the crayons. He climbed off the desk and proceeded to crawl underneath it. He was throwing out a few sighs here and there just to let me know he was frustrated at not finding the crayons. When I didn't respond appropriately he let out a large groan (UGGGHHHHHH) and announced," There are just too many possibilities!" What could I do besides mask my surprise and concur with the boy that indeed there were many possibilities and to keep trying!

Deep thoughts by Porter

Me: Porter can you help Oliver and me clean up this mess? (Hope everyone sees the mistake I made in asking him)
Porter: (big sigh) Hmnmnm. No because a mean guy came by and zapped away my powers, my cleaning powers and now I can't clean up anymore. (another big sigh, accompanied by a downward glance and a pathetic frown).
I was tempted to say that I had the power to reinstate his cleaning powers with a powerful ZAP from me but, I was preoccupied with trying to stifle my laughter so, I let him opt for time out!

Stair Surfing

Porter takes up a new sport! We are so proud! This is just a sample of our day to day life! Ha Ha!

Fondue Fountain Fun

I know what you all must be thinking! Is she absolutely insane. What was she smoking? Well maybe that's the problem, I wasn't smoking enough! Anyway, the kids had a blast. They were very appropriate at fist, just sticking in their strawberries and bananas. Once they got the hang of it, they started to get a little crazy and I think if I hadn't been hovering I think they would have hung their open mouths straight under the "chocolate river"! Sawyer couldn't decide whether to eat the chocolate or hold Gram who was slightly concerned about her clothing! Needless to say the kitchen had gone from immaculate to demolition zone in no time and the kids were happy! So, was it worth it you ask? Will I do it again? Yea! I have a really short memory!

COUSINS

WELCOMING THATCHER! We are so excited to have little Thatcher here. The children were mauling him (to be expected right?) Cassie did very well with the overwhelming attention. Everyone was of course instructed to "hand sanitize" before touching! Sawyer was especially taken with the little guy. Most likely because Thatcher is smaller than him and he looked like someone he could boss around. He had decided that Annie was more of an equal and opted to shower her with hugs and kisses. It was pretty sweet. He also thought she looked like she needed to eat more food so, at breakfast as he was eating his cereal he would have a bite and then give her a bite. He loves his cousins!

Santa Clause strikes again!

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house children rushed and they pushed each other about. These children were not nestled or snug in their beds and you better believe sugar stains were smeared on their heads. And Michael in his kercheif and I all about could not get them to settle down for any amount. We threatened and shouted and called out their names, but they seemed to ingore us just the same. So, we told them that Santa would not appear if they could not settle down and sleep with their reindeer(from Build-a-Bear, hello). Their eyes how they twinkled, their minds oh how merry, and we laughed when we saw them and went a little crazy. When the children were down, Santa came with delight and left little gifts for each one that night. And I heard him exclaim as he ran for the door, Merry Christmas I wish I could help you some more. You're on you own now and good luck on the morrow, I left Porter a drum set oh well, your sorrow. I think he was laughing at what might take place on Christmas morning there would be a big race, for the children could not wait to see what was left, for they all thought that they deserved all the best. Larkin had been worried when she found Santa would bring only two presents to the scene. She had even stated it would be a Blue Christmas. We tried to explain that we all have enough, that less is more and we don't need more stuff. When the discussion concluded she temporarily resigned to the deal but, later would bring forth several appeals. When all was said and done everyone was extremely happy and mom went to bed thinking of ways to get rid of our puppy.