This made my day!

This is a thought from my friend, Dawn over at Scrap Jammies as a group of us (an amazing group of women) are discussing an epiphany and awareness moments that you have experienced. Here's what she said:

"This is the journling from Whimsical. I really discovered how happy I was regardless of much that is not so wonderful in my life recently- and to think that right now I am even happier than when I wrote this!

I am happy. My life is full of all that matters. While there are moments of doubt and fear filled thoughts, I can always rely on an inner peace knowing that I am indeed happy and can always be. It does not matter if there are those who cross my path and will shake my confidence and damage my trust. I am resilient. I deserve only the best and will not settle for less. ...I am content with the knowledge that I am a capable and amazing woman on my own. My happily ever after was realized the moment that I realized my happiness lies within me. No one can rob me of it, it is mine; I own it and I will always have it as long as I believe."

So true!!! Any one else have moments like that?

Here's another thing that made my day. This beautiful picture of Robert & Lizzie taken before he left for Basic.

Love you Jessica :D See you in less than 2 weeks!

WE LOVE YOU BUDDY!!!!

So our sweet son called us for about 5 minutes last night even though he only had less than 1 1/2 hours with Jessica and Elizabeth. He just wanted to let us know that he passed his physical, weigh-in and measuring. This morning he left at 3:00 am! Did he have to call us? Nope, but I was glad he did. Thank you Jessica & Elizabeth for giving up that small amount of time with him so I could talk with him. I truly meant the world to me. Love you!

Being sworn in - June 2008


With his recruiter

Now this boy was very dedicated to this goal and had to shed a few pounds and inches. Since this photo (correct me if I get the numbers wrong Jessica) Robert has dropped 25 pounds! And in one month he lost 2" from his waist and about 1 1/2" around his neck. WAY TO GO!!! We're so proud of you!!! Please remember him (and all the other soliders) in your prayers.

A Mid-summer's Night Dessert :D

Okay, so our friend Gary Wall at church on Sunday MADE us want to have these!! Washington State has the BEST raspberries EVER!!!!




I've just spent the past two days organizing ALL of my digital photos on the computer. Whew! What a task that was but I feel so good to have them in some sort of sensible order. But while doing this I found some of the cutest pictures.


He's SO little!!!


An airport greeting :D


A Mom's favorite picture of her two oldest kids


Yeah, being weird!


This is what happens when you make too many cinnamon rolls! Yes! That "season" is coming around again for us. Gotta get to Disneyland!


We STILL can't stop laughing at how much Robert looks like a girl in this picture. Wish I could show you another "exremely rare and valuable" picture of his Dad. But I'd be dead if I did and life just would not be pleasant. Let's just say, Rob makes quiet the attractive female :D

So instead here's a couple blackmail pictures

Tabitha and her favorite hunk ~Napoleon


Um, yeah! Don't ask!

And here's a little advise for all you Dad's.
This is what you do to "prepare" to interview the boys that want to take out your daughters :D

The Tall Ships are in Port

You'd think that the Port of Bellingham would have better signage to direct you to this fun event. Sheesh! We weren't even sure which ramps to take on the dock. But we made it and the weather was beautiful.

Here's what we saw:
The Hawiian Chieftan




The Lady Washington (aka The Interceptor from Pirates of the Caribbean, Curse of the Black Pearl)



David and Amber hoping that MAYBE Johnny Depp touched this!




Love it with the American Flag blowing in the wind.

Me and David


David & Amber. David's trying to be a fierce pirate :D


I'm glad Amber has long enough arms to take self-portraits of us together :D

Whatcom Wind Ensemble

This is a FIRST for our girls. Playing together in the same band. Because of their age difference (4 1/2 years) they just missed being able to play together in high school like Robert & Tabitha did. So when this opportunity came around neither one of them could pass it up. It was so awesome to see them together on the same stage.

Take a listen at the tale end of the last song. (Rober this is for you!!) Pardon the kids running around. And go figure, the train decided to come through right at the end of the song. So really it's not a wrong note. It's the train :D


For some odd reason, this isn't playing on my screen anymore. So here's a link if it's not playing on yours either :D

http://s157.photobucket.com/albums/t62/musicmom4kids/?action=view&current=100_8338.flv

This was down in Fairhaven. If anyone needs something to do on Saturday, August 9th at 1:00 pm, they'll be doing it again. We had a blast bringing a picnic to eat while sitting ont he grass listening to wonderful music! Come join us :D

Our Trip to Utah-LOTS of pictures :D

Here's just a few of the highlights from our trip to visit Robert, Jessica and Elizabeth.

Some Grandma lovin' before bedtime

We were able to meet up with our friends The Shepherd's. They used to live in Lynden but know in Texas. Funny we had to meet up in Sandy, Utah!

Bear Lake

Rob, Robert, Elizabeth & Jessica at the Greeno's in Bear Lake

Isn't she beautiful? Here's what we were watching:

The Boy's and their toys!

Jessica had to get behind the wheel too!

Of course, I'm holding Lizzie (and taking pictures)

Our favorite dog ~ Cooper

We went to dinner at a drive-in and here's how we got our food. LOVE IT!!! Anyone remember A & W Rootbeer drive-in's? This is what it reminded us of.

We then went to see the X-Files movie at the $5 theater. YEP! $5!! And I just had to get this box of popcorn because it's so cute. Guess how much it cost?

$2!!

Robert will have his birthday while at Basic so we brought his gifts with us. The monkey was a bit of a joke gift. This WebKin Monkey is called "Cheeky Monkey". Robert's biology teacher in high school used to call him that when she would get frustrated with him. :D

Aunt Tabby THIS is for you!!

Elizabeth just LOVES to eat her "puffs"! I just adore this picture! So sweet!

Elizabeth kept looking up and making this face. Here's what she was looking at:

This was the tree we were sitting under. It was so beautiful for our picnic on the Tabernacle lawn.

Such a sweet little family

Some last minute grandma & Grandpa lovin'

Aren't they are cute couple?!?! Love you guys!!!

Musical Cartoons

So sit back with you beverage of choice and enjoy. Here are some of our favorites!


The Three Little Bops
A cute little twist on The Three Little Pigs ~ one of our favorites!


The Rabbit of Seville
Hey yyyoouuuuuu!!!!!!!!!!!!!


One Froggy Evening
Ribbit :D

I Like to Singa
Carrooner!!!

Every Parent's Nightmare!

People think that once you get your kids married and they move away from home you stop worrying. Not true! It's just a different kind of worry for a parent.

Robert went to school with both of the boys involved in this accident.

The younger brother of the deceased, Luke was the lead singer in Robert's high school band and was over at the house at least 1 - 2 times a week. The Father of the deceased is one of the owners of Lynden Service Center, where we've taken our cars for the past 14 years. Our prayers and heartfelt thoughts go out to all the families. It's never easy to lose someone in your family. But to lose a child under any circumstance is heart wrenching. I can't imagine losing my husband after 3 weeks of marriage! Truly tragic!

Nicholas L. "Nick" Brann


Nicholas "Nick" L. Brann, age 26, of Lynden died Saturday, July 12, 2008 as the result of a traffic accident. Nick was born September 21, 1981 in Bellingham to Jerry and Wendy Brann and had been a lifelong Lynden resident. Graduating from Lynden Christian High School in 2000, he was employed as a mechanic at Lynden Service Center. An avid outdoorsman, he loved water sports, hunting, fishing and dirt biking. On June 21, 2008 he was married to Nicole Behm in Wenatchee. Nick is survived by his wife, Nicole; parents, Jerry and Wendy Brann; brothers, Lucas and Justin, all of Lynden; maternal grandmother, Ramona Mills of Blaine; Uncle Ron Brann of Lynden; father and mother-in-law, Lee and Pat Pruitt of Wenatchee and numerous other family members.

Cubs and Robots

While our company was here, Lynette (lovingly known as Auntie Lyn) made these awesome shadow boxes and arrow for David. It was her gift to him for all the hard work he's done to make it all the way through Cubs. We just hung them up in his room and they look WONDERFUL!! Thanks Lyn!!

Then last night Rob brought down a classic game. I think the last time we played this was when Robert was about this same age!! Take a peek at the slide show to catch all the action.

It's summertime you know?!

And I've been a bit lax on posting. Sorry :D You know how it is when company leaves? Not that they were a bother or a problem in anyway!!! (Well, the upstairs toilet overflowed 2 hours after they left! They didn't have anything to do with that. Let's just say Eeeeewwwww in the unplugging and sanitation efforts! TMI ~ sorry) It's just time to play catch up and try to get back into the normal routine. Is there really such a thing? Rob & I have been busy trying to figure out some minor details of our upcoming trip to Utah. It will be way too short of a trip I can see that right now. But it will be worth it just to see Robert, Jessica and Elizabeth. You know 4 months is a long time without any Grandbaby hugs. I hope by the time our weekend is over I'll be getting some slobbery baby kisses to tide me over for 4 weeks.

Anyway, I'll post a few updates later. We got Miss Amber off to girls camp at 6:30 this morning. So it's just me and Mr. D during the day. So far, we're having fun. Plus, Vashti tagged me on a very different kind of tag. One that I'll have to truly think about my answers. In the meantime ~ go take a peek over here to take a look at this wonderful coffee table book that we purchased from Cassie for the newlyweds! Tabitha & Josh picked alll the photos they wanted to use and Cassie designed the book. As Cassie said she's 90% happy with it. And we agree. It's only on 3 pages though. The binding cut off Uncle Seth, Grandpa Frick and the center of the Temple. It's such a gorgeous book!

Here's the front cover just to tease you a bit :D