One of my darling children must have stepped on a crack...

...because I broke my back!

How do you like my new brace? I wear it all day and all night. It only comes off when I shower. I'll wear it until this fall, but...I am getting ahead of myself.

Let me start at the beginning.

All the descendants of my great grandparents on my paternal grandmother's side were invited to a family reunion in July. I really wanted to go, but Stan's family reunion was the same weekend, so my mom flew to our house to drive with me in the van. We took three kids with us and Stan kept the other four to take to his family's reunion.

Summer, Kelly, and Naomi came with my mom and me. Here are the two youngest in Nevada where we stopped for a picnic on our first day out. It was 109 degrees Fahrenheit.

We met my dad along the way, went to church with my in-laws and headed up over the mountains to see my Aunt Margaret and Uncle Tom.

We stopped at Cedar Breaks on the way. It was about 40 degrees cooler in the mountains on Sunday than it had been on Saturday in the desert.



By Sunday evening, we were in Colorado and had a nice drive Monday. We stopped here so that my dad could take pictures of the hay bales and the hills. It was nice to stretch our legs for a minute.

Later in the day, my dad taught Kelly how to fish. Naomi took mental notes while they practiced casting in the road.


Then it was time to cast for real (for reel? ha ha).

While Kelly fished, Naomi gathered flowers and...

...I took pictures.

Success! Her first fish - a 10 and 3/4 inch brown trout. It was delicious :)

We drove into Fort Collins that night with scattered rain and a beautiful sky that turned into...

...a double rainbow.

The next day, we took my grandmother and visited the cemetery to put flowers on my Grandpa Herb's, cousin Veronica's and sister Heather's graves.

Kelly and Mo rode the train in the city park.

We also visited my Grandpa Bob at the nursing home and took in a little shopping for Summer's sake.

We spent our second and last evening in Fort Collins at Uncle Gale and Aunt Judy's house visiting with all their kids and grand kids as well as Uncle Kent and Aunt Kay, having fun, eating dinner and doing laundry.

Wednesday, we picked up Grandma Blanche to come to the reunion with us and headed off to another cemetery at the Ryssby Church.

Kelly found a bird's nest and a toad. I took pictures of both to ease the pain of not keeping them forever.


Summer was a delightful travel companion.

She took this picture of the van full to the brim with seven (3 kids, mom, dad, Grandma Blanche and me) people's stuff and...

...this funny picture of Naomi and me.

I really like this picture I took of my parents.

We stopped to ride an aerial tram and stayed for lunch.

This picture of the Rockies was the last picture I took on our trip. It was lovely driving through the mountains.

After lunch, we drove until we came to Hot Sulpher Springs, where we stopped to swim (the kids) and soak (the adults). It was so relaxing :)

We got back in the car and started on our last 100 miles or so before we reached the reunion.

Soon, almost everyone was asleep.

Then, everyone was asleep, including the driver, but not for long.

Next, almost all of us were hollering, while we flew off the road, caught some air, bumped along at high speed, hit a ditch, tipped to the side, tipped back upright, took out a fencepost, and stopped.

We all ended up going to a nearby town in two different ambulances. The three kids ended up with scrapes and bruises, but nothing worse. My Grandma Blanche had some broken ribs. My mom, dad and I all broke our backs in different places and I broke my sternum. The spine specialist who treated us told us we were very blessed as a family to have three broken backs and no spinal cord injuries.

The van didn't fare so well, but that is ok.

It is replaceable, unlike the rest of us :)

Here are a couple of pictures that Stan took when he came to pick up the kids.


The four adults ended up staying in the hospital two or three days each. When we were released, we were taken lovingly in by many of the family whom we had been looking forward to seeing at the reunion. I was sad that we didn't see everyone and that we missed the reunion, but it was so nice to have time to visit and spend time with loved ones for a while as we recuperated and waited to see our doctor one more time.

I will be forever grateful for all the kindnesses shown by our families, our ward, Stan's coworkers and our friends. Thanks everyone!

Independance Day

We started off the day by getting dressed in our red white and blue. I used to make an effort to outfit the kids, but older sisters have taken over that job. A day or two ahead, they remind their younger siblings to be prepared to dress the part and the morning of the big day, everyone goes through everyone else's clothes to help choose (and bully into, sometimes) what everyone will wear.

We went to the pancake breakfast at church and then headed up into the mountains to escape the heat for a picnic lunch. One of the best things on the drive is the tunnel.

Our favorite place to go is like a huge natural playground with rocks to climb on and logs draped over a stream to tightrope walk over. The water is cold, but the kids still end up getting drenched. Every time we go, we remember that the last time we went, we swore we'd bring the swimsuits, but of course we forgot...again!

Naomi was apprehensive, to say the least, about crossing the stream on a log. I had to go get her from Rachel and take her myself.

Kelly crawled and climbed all day. I don't think she even sat still while she ate. It was just go, go, go like a little mountain goat.

Michael tried his hand at some rock scrambling, too.

Mo was satisfied with playing in the dirt, eating cookies, and watching everyone else risk their footings.





If you count high enough to note that there are six kids pictured, not seven, you may be wondering about Summer - she is still out of town.

Everything was so lovely, I took too many pictures, but I guess that is one of the joys of not having to pay for film developing.

Rachel took a turn with the camera, too. We all liked this picture she got of Naomi's hair.

I wish I could remember what we were talking about when she took this picture of Stan and me...

Then, to finish off the day, we sat on the street curb and looked up into the sky . I don't know why I do it, because photos of fireworks are so lame in comparison to reality, but every year I take pictures, trying to capture the glory of pyrotechnics!

Right now...

...Summer is in Manhattan getting ready to play MOMA bingo,

Rachel is making cookies,

Stan is teaching the other kids how to pick locks (Gwen, the quick study, has already figured it out),


and I am avoiding responsibility! (but only for a blogging minute...)

Happy 16th :)

Happy Sixteenth Birthday, Summer!

Wow, it is hard to believe how grown up our baby is getting! Here she is with her brownie and banana nut fudge baked Alaska, which actually had green meringue (her favorite color) even before I started messing with the photo.

We love you, darling!

We Like Water

A week or so ago, it was Heather's turn to choose the FHE activity and she choose a walk by the river.


Rachel picked a flower and sent it off.


Heather picked a bunch of flowers. The shirt she is wearing is one she tie dyed at school.

Aunt Sara came to visit for five incredibly fast days.
We ALL love it when she comes :)

It was hard to cram in all the fun we wanted to have, but we did make it to the beach...yay!

Michael watching while Summer and Rachel make a sand hippo.


Rachel tried to set Naomi on it like a horse, but she was not successful...

...and Summer watched while she finished the demolition.

Finally, here is the crab that Michael found.

My kids would love to take home everything from the beach, dead or alive. I am glad there are cameras to soften the blow when I tell them they can't.

Ironically...

...she screams when I try to rinse her hair.

Seriously, she acts like it is water boarding to get her hair rinsed by her mother, but when SHE is in control...

Big Flowers

We planted sunflowers in the garden

this year

just for fun

and to give the sparrows

something to eat besides chicken food, I guess :)

.

.

.

They grew REALLY TALL!

Funny Kid

Sunday morning is always busy, even with church starting two hours later this year than last. As I was rushing around,tying up loose ends and trying to get myself ready this morning, I saw a piece of Michael's pajamas on the floor. It was easier to ask the closest big girl to pick it up than to track down the errant boy and Heather was in the wrong place at the right time. Or the right place at the wrong time? Anyway, this is how the conversation went -

Me - Heather, could you pick up Michael's pajamas and put them on his bed, please?

Heather - Where are they?

Me - Right there behind you.

Heather - That is only the top. Where are the bottoms?

Me (anxious to move on to the next task) - I don't know! Put those away and then look for them.

I didn't follow up because I was running late and worried about other things. As a matter of fact, I forgot all about Michael's missing pj pants until after church. Everyone was busy changing out of their church clothes when Michael hollers at me (with sheer delight in his voice at the stunt he pulled) "Mommy, you didn't know I wore two pants to church today!"

Silly kid, I just had to take his picture.

He was enjoying the photo session so much he said, "Take a picture of my funny face!" So, I did just that for a couple of minutes and was just putting the camera away, when Naomi, not wanting to be left out, came up and asked, "Piture hunny hace me?"

Here are my favorites -

I have decided to admit...

...that my thumb is black as night and to give up on houseplants, at least for a while.

I know I have a dangerous optimistic streak that could hit any time as I walk past the plants on display for sale, so I don't dare promise that I'll never hope again to keep a houseplant alive, but for now, I am admitting that bringing a plant into my home means certain death.

I've had this wheat for a while and the worst it does it get dusty. Dust, unfortunately, does not cause conniptions in my home, just discouraged inaction, so being dusty is not a capital offense. The wheat stays.

I've converted the few places I used to have plants (may they rest in peace) to completely dead decorations. I expect they will get as dusty as the wheat (or worse), but oh well. I had some ivy in the dining room windows, but the dead eucalyptus from the flowers Stan gave me for Mother's Day made a handy substitute.

For a while (six or eight plant replacements worth) I've had a house plant in the living room. I just replaced it with a rock/glass garden. I expect I will water it less than the plant, but not by much, since that was part of the problem :) The green plate is my homage to the color of life, even if it is only a sad stand in.


Is anyone wondering why I don't do silk? Or polyester, or whatever it is?

Now THAT (unlike deadness and dust) is a capital offense - I live with a botanist after all :)

Very Sick

A couple of days ago, Naomi informed me that she was,

"Hick, bery hick."

(Sick, very sick)

Even though she made it sound terminal, she only had a mild cold. She stayed home from church today mostly to keep from sharing her illness with the entire nursery. At any rate, she was well enough to play outside this afternoon.

At one point, she rushed in, exclaiming, "Mommy! Picked mine flowers!"