Monday, July 14, 2014

The last four days. . .

We've had a few chances to sing together as a family lately.
We have named our family band "The Attempt", for that is what it is.
The most special time was to go sing "Come Thou Fount" for Sis. Tucker a few hours before she died.
It was her favorite song and with Jeremy on the guitar and Jaycie on the violin it was in the style she loved.  We were able to sing it at her funeral a few days later.


Jaycie and Benny get to head off to EFY next week.
They've been working on a duet with Benny playing the ukelele.
They sound so good together.  I will miss their singing when Jaycie leaves for college next year.


Wednesday, Jeremy, Benny, and Jaycie (and Jocelyn) left for Trek.


They lucked out and got to do a Trek in Vegas AND Missouri.
We will have them report when they get back.


The remaining 6 of us did stuff around the house. . . swam, cleaned, read,


oohed and ahhed at the baby bunnies which are a week old now,


made a cake for Jack, our friend who's 84th birthday was Thursday.


The boys got to go fishing with the Snipes, so yesterday Caden took his little sisters fishing.


Taffy learned to cast pretty well and KD is a master reeler-inner.


Timo had a fun time tipping his chair over.


And Sarah was just peaceful Sarah.



Some kids are easier to take a picture of than others.


KD caught a fish!


She was one proud little chickie.



Afterwards she kept telling the story of her catch over and over. . . 


"I was weelin' it in. . . 


"and I felt it pullin'. . . 


"I kept weelin' it in. . . 


"And pulled it in. . . 


"It was a 'credible fish!!"


"I love that 'credible fish."


Soon after her catch, all 3 lures had been lost so the fishing trip turned into a tadpole catching adventure.



Since she didn't catch a fish, Taffy found solace in being the only one to catch a couple tadpoles.


I love these kids.



Even when they don't always like each other.


Thursday, July 10, 2014

4th of July!

The week before the 4th, we realized there are a lot of people from church and around that don't have family around to celebrate with. . . 

So even though Jeremy was going to be working, we decided to invite everybody over.


53 people and a dog showed up.
They all brought delicious food, took care of games for kids, and grilled the meat.


It felt like family.
(Which is the next best thing to family.)


Somehow the Sister missionaries (Lundskog and Rudd) tipped over the whole hammock with their full plates of food.  Had to take a pic to blackmail them.


Children ran amuck, playing baseball, riding plasma cars, blowing bubbles, etc.


The older boys hung out after playing basketball.


It makes me smile to see generations mix and love each other's company.


Charlie, Timo's scout leader, did the grillin'. 
He did a great job, though it ended in fire and a hose.




More hammock fun with Mary Beth, Sarah, and Billie.


It's so good to see this thing used.  Makes it all worth taking it apart in Vegas and setting it up again here.


Volleyball with the missionaries.


This is the record number of swimmers we've had in the pool at one time.


When it got dark, a bunch of us headed over to the middle school to watch the fireworks.


The fun part was watching Jaycie lead the kids in games, hearing the kid's call out to each other as they ran around, having Clifton find Taffy's shoes for me since I was holding a sleeping KD, and just hanging out after the fireworks were over.  

It was neat to feel like family while missing them.