We haven't had a BIG family vacation for years! The kids are so excited and we can't wait (uh huh, driving in a van for HOURS with 5 kids who love to talk.....) We leave on Friday, July 25th to spend some vacation time with all of Greg's siblings. The kids have been packing all week and can't believe it is finally here! So, I'm sure there will be much, much more to post! YEAH!!!! 
You know it is a sign of your youth COMPLETELY GONE, when you find your oldest child behind the wheel of a car. I can't believe that I have a 15 year old who has his learner's permit!
Nick was so very excited to have passed the test. He read the manual, boring of course, but it paid off in the end. He was very nervous, but SO EXCITED after it was over and he had that hot permit in his hands!
WAY TO GO NICK!!! 
We are proud of you! (please drive safe!)
This year, we decided we needed to get a new lining for the pool. The other one was getting gross and wasn't looking too fun to play in. So with the help of friends, we replaced the old one. The kids had a blast playing in the water as we started to fill it! Finally at 10:30pm, we figured the neighbors had heard enough and they had to get out.
We are so sad to say that we really missed Nick and Kim. They were away at Youth Conference! Lucky them!
After the kids went in for the night, Ben came back out to say that this is the funnest thing they have done all summer long. How very sad is that???
JaNae thought it would be funny to get her own "tookie" stuck! HA HA!
Megan participated in AIM (acheivement in music) for her piano. She had to play in front of judges for technique, memorized songs and sight reading. She received 100% on all of them and was chosen to participate in a Honors Concert that evening. She played at Weber State University in a concert hall on a Concert Grand Piano! She was scared, but was amazing! She introduced herself and her song and played it perfectly! The concert hall was about half full of parents and she didn't even act nervous at all. I think she was the youngest piano player there and seemed so small compared to others participating. We are so proud of her!! Good job Megan!!
When Megan went to piano lessons on Monday after the concert, her teacher said that Megan is her first student in 14 years to receive 100% for AIM. How exciting!!
Well, the frontrunner train is up and running here in Utah. So far it runs from Ogden to Salt Lake. For 3 days, they let whoever wanted to, ride for free. Well, with 5 kids, you have to jump on things like that. So my friend and I took our kids on it. Rod it down to SLC and back to Ogden. It is pretty fun and should do really well. Now it costs $10 round trip from Ogden to Salt Lake. So, hopefully they will come up with some "family" discounts sometimes. It was a fun adventure!
So. Jordan was talking some serious SMAK about Paul kicking Alane's can in some friendly Guitar Hero competition. Of course, she was all over that .... he did pretty good... for all the smak going around! Paul, Jordan and Moses came to visit on April 19th from San Francisco! That Moses is so dang cute! We all just wanted to keep him! (Sorry Paul and Jordan!!)
On April 18, 2008, our two bunnies died. It was a very, very sad day at our house. Their names were Thumper and Chubs. They were given to us by my good friend Cheri before she moved to Georgia the summer of 2006. They were so cute! But, I think we are done in the bunny business. We will stick with our mutt dog Lady! These flowers were planted in memory of our bunnies. We are going to try just keeping flowers alive for awhile!!!
Christmas 2006 I got an awesome camera. It was a Canon SD630. Loved it! It could go with me everywhere and could even shoot video. It was nice and small and would just fit in my pocket. It was missing for quite a few days and didn't know where I had left it. One day Greg grabbed a load of clothes and put them in the washer. 
Then of course the dryer. I was on the computer and he came to ask me if I knew where my camera was. He said he found it cause he heard it going round and round in the dryer! The dryer! Which meant that it had gone through the complete washer cycle! I couldn't believe it. Apparently I had it in the pocket of my pants!! Crap! We hurried and took it apart hoping that we could dry it out. Nothing worked. I basically stuck it in a box for about 5 months. Then I decided to get it out and just see. Just see if it would actually work. Well, it did. Really the only thing wrong with it was the battery didn't last very long, but I had a backup one, so no big deal. Seriously, I couldn't believe that it worked! The video, the flash, everything. So, I guess that is a lesson of patience that I had to learn. Not an easy one, but worth it!!
I can't believe Easter had come and gone. It seems just like we had all
of that snow and couldn't get out of the neighborhood! Here is a picture of the kids...they are growing so fast, I really can't keep up with them at all!
Also, we went to Greg's mom's house Easter weekend, and she had made this very very cute relish tray in the shape of a rabbit! The kids really loved that! Just so happy that spring is here!!!
Alane and the 2 mom's wore the same color of shirt. Weird! They didn't even plan it!
Greg went to San Francisco beginning of March for Moses Ferney's baby blessing. (He is the first of Paul and Jordan) Greg went with Katrina and his
mom and dad. I think it was a great weekend getaway for all of them! Of
course we at home missed them all tons!!
So, sometimes bad luck just happens. This is my pink phone, or should I say "was" my pink phone. Loved my razor, but it just didn't seem to like me!!! The summer of '07, I was pushed into my pool by a "friend" and my phone was in my pocket. Needless to say, I was a little freaked cause I had my calendar and EVERYTHING in my phone. We hurried and tried to open it up and get it to dry. A few days went by, and no luck.
So, I found a NEW phone on ebay...the exact same one. When it came I was so happy! My life that I always carried with me was back! A couple weeks went by and I was helping a friend do some painting. Yes. Painting. Well, I had on an old pair of scrubs, with my NEW pink phone in the shirt pocket. I AM an idiot! I was bending over to load my roller with paint.......yes, you guessed it! Phone fell right into the pan of pink paint. (yes, of course pink...but that really didn't save my phone right then!) In a matter of micro-seconds, it was almost completely buried in paint. I grabbed it so fast and started wiping it with my shirt. One of my best friends was there, and she was in complete shock. She knew my luck and all she could do was point and laugh. I almost had to slap her across the face to help me! She snapped out of it and we hurried and tried to take the phone apart and wipe paint off....inside and out. Well....needless to say, the paint phone actually worked after a few days...and lasted a few months. So, for fun I tried the "pool" phone, and it was working by then cause it had been like 6 months since the swim.
It still works, but my job bought me a blackberry. I have only dropped it once! I am so freaking careful. So far...so good with it. No water or paint! And that's my story!
Stupid car problems!! Greg is learning more things than I think he bargained for!!
The van has had a leak in the gas tank (as seen on the ground next to the van) and the fuel pump went out AND it was leaking anti-freeze.
Here he is in the driveway, working on all those things. He had to siphon gas out of
this tank into another car! 
So, once this one is running....he will move onto the next leaking vehicle! What a pain!!
For Ben's 6th grade Valentine's party, they had a contest for making Valentine's boxes for Valentine's to go in. Ben wanted a space shuttle, because a few weeks ago he went to Astrocamp in Ogden, and was the commander that was to land the space shuttle. Anyway, Greg and Ben had a lot of fun making this out of a Kleenex box!! Happy Valentine's day!! (I guess he didn't win anything in the contest, because there were a lot of other space shuttle boxes!)
Ben got a video camera for Christmas that hooks
up to the computer. Nick of course got a hold of it,
and likes to make videos. This just really shows
his silliness and personality!!!
This is from the corner to our house.....holy cow! The snow just keeps
getting deeper. Will winter ever end?
This is our tunnel as you walk out the front door!!!
This is the North Ogden Divide. The road on the mountain that takes
you to the valley. Well, you can't even really read the road closed sign.
Someone did somehow get their 4X4 up there!
These are the icicles at our church. There have been a lot of large ones
hanging from houses all over here.
This is our neighbor's mailbox around the corner. Poor mail carriers.
Not a job I would want to have right now.
Snowplow going by. The snow keeps falling.
This is Nick. He made a cave on the side of the sidewalk
into the snow. Anywhere you turn, you can dig a tunnel
or make a cave! The kids are loving it!!
Icicles in front of our house.
Megan in a tunnel of snow.
Our back deck with the snow that fell in less than 24 hours.
It used to be a trampoline and picnic table. Kind of looks
like a pot pie or something!!
The van with the snow. It was so funny watching Greg
drive it around with that snow just sitting there!! One spin
around the neighborhood and I had all the snow cleaned
off the top of the van!
The trees in our front yard.
