October

October has been a busy month. We enjoyed a trip down to Albuquerque with many stops along the way. We had to stop in Moab similar to how Grandpa Merrill always had to work Yellowstone into a trip. We enjoyed the sun, aquarium, zoo, explora, balloon fiesta and catching up with friends. Janey is already 2 years old and has been alot of fun. She now gets some alone time with Honey and I now that 3 of the kids are in school. Haloween was alot of fun filled with multiple parties, costumes and of course lots of sweets. We hope you are well.

40 DAYS OF TRAVEL

I looked at my calendar for the last three months and tallied it up! That is a lot of time on the road. But it has all been so much fun! We went rafting in Riggins with Sunni and Dan & Honey and their family. (Dan's new raft is awesome and they really know how to make camping and rafting fun.) We spent Labor Day weekend in LA with Chris & Rachel and the boys (Sea World was a blast. As you can see in the pictures, we closed the place down!) Columbus Day weekend, we flew to Lawrence, Kansas and saw Carson & Deena's stomping grounds. They were great hosts. I just got back from a week in White Rock with Mom and Jeanne and Marnie and their families. We worked on Dad's history but still found time for visits, good food and fun! In between were a couple of trips to Coeur d'Alene, and a trip to Lake Okeboji, Iowa and Omaha. Whew! That's a lot of suitcase packing and unpacking! During the days I was home I was managing our remodel and doing the related painting and packing & unpacking of boxes.

My travels were wonderful - seeing family was the best part - but now I am glad to be home. Like Dorothy said, "There's no place like home!"

My First Movie Role

Please enjoy the following propaganda. It was filmed at UCLA for a national Retina society.

summer 2010

loved having a huge garden this year. i've got carrots, lettuce, spinach and green beans coming out of my ears. just enough raspberries and strawberries and peas to eat right there and corn in a week I think. lots of pumpin, butternut squash and gourds but i don't think the watermelon and cantoloupe are going to make it, they are tiny still. the asparagus and sweet potatoes are also doing amazing, but not quite ready. fruit trees are all looking great but the Kristin Cherry. the peach trees have made a comeback.

Dan got his roll down. he did the Gorge again in the kayak and I THINK he made it down without panic-ing this time. he did flip in Tumbleweed but got right back up no problem, unlike last year. Hopefully no more nightmares about being stuck upside down in a boat.:)

We spent most of our summer on some kind of boat or another.

We're going to try to sneak in one more trip down the Gorge if there are any takers?

And probably once down the Gallatin since we just had family move to Bozeman (yeah, we are so excited to have an excuse)

The vegetable game was my favorite campfire game of the summer. (it's definately easiest to just be a pea.) YW camp was a RIOT. I did the Polar Dip, Dan couldn't believe it.

After Shalayne fell out on Tumbleweed we made the kids wear helmets the next time.

then Gavin and Brookie swam Fiddle Creek, two spills the whole summer, not too bad. Made for good memories and fun times.

This is my world!

We are deep into the second (and hopefully the final) stage of our remodel! New flooring, new bathtub tile and new stair rail. Right now, we are completely moved out of the upstairs. In two weeks, we move upstairs and clear out the downstairs. Sunni was working in the garage with the door open when they were having our neighborhood yard sale last Saturday and people passing by kept looking at her hopefully - but it all has to go back inside!

Diving Contest

Here are the boys with their Durham cousins. Christopher and Ethan did their first diving board flips. Matthew tried but did not quite get all the way around.

Grandma Heaven

We brought Brookie and Emma back from Missoula after Emma's baptism and two days later Honey brought Will and Janey. The first day they were here we made a list titled "Things We Want To Do". We got all of them done and a few more! Here is the list Emma and Brookie wrote and the pictures for proof.

1. Bake bread

2. Buy food

3. Look through Grandpa's books

4. Make jewelry

5. Pick raspberries

6. Yard work (It wasn't all play!)

7. Swim

8. Pack houses (We are getting ready to do the next phase of our remodel.)

9. Pack Santas (See above.)

10. Fix screen (Remember the one Christopher ran through last summer?)

11. Visit swans

12. Library (We needed to get additional copies of "The Spiderwick Chronicles.)

13. Watch movie (The kids picked "Where the Wild Things Are" - we wished we hadn't;))

14. Water slides (Roaring Springs water park)

15. Buy yarn (I am going to make ponchos for the girls.)

16 Postcards (To send to Dan who had to stay in Missoula and work.)

17. Toy movie (Toy Story 3)