El Paso Sunset

Saturday night we decided to go to the Wyler Tram and view a Texas sunset from the top of the Franklin Mountains. We got there just in time, the sun was beginning to set behind the western horizon. We live on the east side of the mountains which was already pretty dark, but you are looking over the west side of the mountain as the sun sets over New Mexico and Mexico. The wind picked up a little while we were up top and it was a bit chilly as well. A cup of hot chocolate would have been nice to keep your hands warm and warm you inside. A jacket is a definite must if we do this again in the evening hours of the cooler season. It was beautiful and reminds you of all the beautiful things God created. It was so peaceful up there that you could actually forget your troubles for a minute, and just think about all you have to be thankful for. That is something we all need to take the time to do daily, but especially at this time of the year. Greg and I tried to sneak a few romantic kisses in as the sun went down, but Shelby quickly squeezed in the middle of us to try and get warm and told us our kissing wasn't helping her get any warmer. We enjoyed our time together as a family!

All about us

Gregory

Greg has just moved to a new unit with just being here 2 months now. He is still in the 11th Air Defense Artillery, but is more in headquarters now. He will still be teaching in his field, which is NBC (Nuclear Biological Chemical warfare). This unit just began forming about 4 weeks ago so I am sure they will be looking to Greg for a lot of support since he has had a few years in the business. He will probably be a go to man since he has had 18 years in and many different specialties. He is updating his combat medical readiness certification this week and will probably be getting stuck today since he has good veins. He just bought a new 308 rifle to go hunting with Kalani this winter out in Oklahoma, since that is his home of record.


I am staying busy with home schooling a 10th and 7th grader. I am looking ahead to next year when I will have 3 home, and I am trying to be better prepared and more organized. I am steadily refreshing myself with Algebra II as Kalani needs help each day. I am volunteering at Lauren and Shelby’s school when I can and going to eat lunch with them some as well. I still enjoy cooking for my family and trying new things all the time. I am baking 2 cakes for our cake walk at the harvest festival at our church this Friday night. I think it is beautiful out here and really like El Paso, but it was made by our Savior’s hand so of course it is. I am just happy to be with my family and we are blessed to have one another.

Kalani-15

Kalani is in the 10th grade now and doing well in all her subjects. This year will probably be her fullest year as she is taking her last year of Spanish and 2 other electives along with her basic subjects. She is looking forward to learning to drive and now has the Texas driver’s book that she can begin studying to get her permit maybe next summer. Kalani and Greg plan to go hunting out in Oklahoma at the first of December. She just got a new 270 rifle from her papa and granny in Houston, and is hoping to shoot her first deer with it. Kalani is taking home economics this year and has been doing projects and cooking for us as well. Everything has been good so far and no major disasters. Kalani loves anything to do with Star Wars, but especially Legos and all the different series of books.
A'nika-13

A’nika is in the 9th grade this year and is playing volleyball for her school. She is also playing trumpet again this year for the band. She is striving to keep her grades up this year as these high school years are very important to her future in college. She still plans on going to college to become a veterinarian, which means she still has many years of school to go. She loves animals, reading, and watching The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. She is planning on going hunting this year and is excited about the thought of shooting a gun. This shocks us from the girl that never wants any animal to hurt. She is currently reading in the Redwall, Warriors, and Phantom Stallion series.

Hannah-13 Hannah is in the 7th grade this year and is doing well adjusting in only her second year at home. Hannah is taking flute lessons at the church to hopefully play in the orchestra there soon. She is doing very well, but all her years in piano have helped. She is also due to start piano lessons back next week with the lady that plays piano for our church. She is taking a creative writing course this year to help her with her penmanship and story writing. I wish I had done it with Kalani, but it will be very good for Hannah. She is enjoying watching Kalani take home economics and has already asked if she can take it in 9th grade, not 10th. She is the one that found our little stray, Libby, and is so attached to that little kitty. I have to make her focus on school at times and stop going to check on the cat.


Tyson-12

Tyson is in the 6th grade this year and seems to be enjoying his first year of middle school. He is learning to play the trumpet for band this year and I am sure driving the neighbors crazy as he practices some days. I am sure he asks his nice big sister to help him at times as well. Tyson enjoys playing his video games and even calls his dad to help him out on the Pitfall game at times. When he is not being annoyed by his sisters he tries to find some quiet time and read books in the Hardy Boy series. He plans on playing softball for the school this spring and is excited about getting his own glove. Tyson is doing great considering how many sisters he has, and can handle his own when around them all together. He loves Star Wars and enjoys putting together the Lego ships.

Lauren-11

Lauren is in the 5th grade and I think is excited about coming home next year with her sisters, although they have told her they are not so crazy about the idea. She loves her new school out here and has a wonderful teacher that is goofy like her. She is taking art this year and really enjoys doing that in school. Maybe it helps get some of her creative energy out. She is always goofy as you can see by her chin video in this blog, but I will say Shelby and Hannah were in on the making of it as well. Lauren has all the sudden developed a kick for hot sauce and is putting it on almost anything. She just loves to eat and is always hungry. Lauren and Shelby now have a beta fish in their room which Lauren named Larry.


Leanna-10

Leanna is in the 4th grade this year and is little miss bubbly as always. She seems to enjoy most of the same things her older sister does, reading, animals, and so on. What Leanna wants to be when she grows up must have changed 10 times this past summer while they were with us. She loves horses and even believes she is an expert in the field at times. She is staying busy by being miss social butterfly and spending lots of time with her best friend, Gina, but I am sure she still has plenty of time to annoy her brother and sister. She was in a car accident with her “big sister” last month, so we are very grateful that everyone was okay and no one was seriously hurt. Leanna loves to get on the phone and talk to Kalani, just to tease her or annoy her.

Shelby-9

Shelby is in the 3rd grade this year and still my little budding author. She loves to sit at the computer and write stories. She still says she wants to go to college to become an author some day. She is in the gifted and talented class here, but still comes home and complains about how easy the work is at times. She has made lots of new friends this year as it is never a problem for her. Where we live she can go right behind the house and play with her friends on a playground after homework is done some days. She is enjoying getting more into chapter books this year and earning those AR points. We are studying multiplication facts now and learning to write in cursive. It brings back memories of when I was in school, but also makes me realize my baby is growing up.

Girls will be girls!

Lauren's "chin video" part 1

Part 2

Summer 2008

We had a busy, action packed summer that ended with our move to El Paso, Texas. We had our kiddos from Michigan down for 2 months this past summer and tried to make the most of all our time with them. Whether it is doing fun things while we were down in Houston or just watching me do my victory dance when I would win skip-bo again. We started the summer off right after school was out by going to see my family in Houston for about 2 weeks. We rented a 12 passenger van to make the trip more enjoyable and give a little more room for everyone. Greg and Hannah went to get the kids from up north and came right back to leave the next day for Houston. Needless to say, we were all tired of being in a vehicle by the time this vacation was over.

While in Texas we had a very busy schedule trying to do as much as possible. While we were there Greg was able to celebrate his birthday with all his kids present and enjoy a good old Grimes cake, my favorite childhood bakery. We spent a few days up in San Antonio with Papa and Granny doing the river walk, the Alamo, and Sea World. I was able to meet up with some friends from Hawaii that I hadn’t seen in over 14 years and hadn’t seen Kalani since she was 9 months old. We spent time on the river walk and Sea World with Mark, Donita, Chris, and Savannah Anderson. It sure was god to see some old friends and catch up on the past few years. The river walk was beautiful and Greg and I talked about getting a hotel right on it and coming with out the kids sometime. Sea world was a blast and the kids loved getting to see all the animals. I think Leanna has decided for now that she wants to work with marine animals. They all wanted to sit in the splash zone, but I opted to keep my camera dry and stay back a little. The Alamo was neat to finally see after living in Texas most of my childhood. The kids may have been bored a little bit with the history part of it, but they enjoyed the scenery. We ate a huge Chinese buffet one night and all the kids were happy because it had a chocolate fondue fountain. Can you say sugar rush?

We also went to Schlitterbahn water park down in Galveston, where everyone seemed to come home sporting a shiny red look. Yes, we were burnt a little! The water slides were fun, but the rapids in the lazy river were even better. Trying to keep up with 7 kids wanting to all do their own thing was exciting to say the least. We also spent a day down at NASA, or the Johnson Space Center. We took a tour around to all the buildings and saw just how many people it takes to operate a huge endeavor like space flight. Some of us more energetic ones went to the San Jacinto monument and Texas battleship, while a few of us stayed home to recoup. I have seen the battle ship years ago at an elementary field trip, so I sent the ones that I knew would appreciate it. Kalani, Tyson, Leanna, and A’nika went along to make sure Greg and Papa didn’t get into any trouble.

While in Texas I was able to get together with all my family at my sisters house and let everyone meet A’nika, Tyson, and Leanna for the first time. The day I married their dad they inherited 8 cousins and finally got to meet them all. We celebrated my mom and dad’s 46th wedding anniversary and I was with my dad for the first time in many years on Father’s day. It was also a very special Father’s day for Greg to have his kids, all 7 of them, with him and give him cards and presents to show how much they love him. He is an awesome daddy and I am so glad my girls have him in their lives.

After returning from Texas we spent the next several weeks getting ready for our move. We went out with the Cardwells to the Cheesecake Factory and came home packing on a few pounds. The food was awesome and the dessert was even better. I have to say the Dulce de Leche caramel cheesecake was my favorite! We went to Carowinds up in Charlotte, which is a theme park like Six Flags, but closer to home. We rode as many rides as we could and all ended up pretty soaked, some more than others, by the end of the day. We took the kiddos back to Michigan at the beginning of August and had to say our very hard good byes. We miss them so much, but hold them close in our hearts. It was a wonderful summer with all seven of my kids together for most of it. Amazingly, they all do get along pretty good and love to spend time together as a family. We enjoyed doing family devotions with them all and prayer time at night to see what everyone was thankful for or wanted to pray about.

We had a wonderful summer until it had to come to an end when we were packed out on the 14th of August and had to say some very hard good byes to wonderful friends and neighbors. My girls will all miss playing with the boys next door and with little Lauren. Thanks to Stef for making get out of my funk and care about myself again, plus pushing me to cycling class each week. More sad good byes to Tom and Kathy, and I guess Kathy and I won’t get to whoop up on the guys anymore at cards. We will miss South Carolina, but look forward to the next chapter in our book together as a family. As long as we are together as a family is all that matters!!!!!!!
Hope you enjoy the slide of our vacation picutres!