Yes, It Must Be Some Kind of Miracle!

It has been so long since we posted to this blog that most of you have stopped looking for updates. Sorry! Some good things that have happened to our family over the last year:

-Clay was called to the Elders Quorum Presidency, he still works for the best boss in town at San Juan Building Supply, and he does an amazing job taking care of our home and family
-Eva started Middle School, turned 12 and is now in Young Women's -Thomas is in 4th Grade, has discovered a love for reading (Thank-you JK Rowling), and is playing Youth Basketball
-Timothy is 4, goes to Pre-school, and has a Girlfriend named Lizzy, that he doesn't mind saying he loves (which Thomas thinks is gross and silly)
-I have lost 40 pounds! Yes 40 pounds over the last year, and I am working on trying to get the last 10 pounds to vacate the premises. I teach Zumba classes at the Wellness Center 4 days a week and I love it! I call it my Zumba "habit"

Our old computer crashed, so I don't have photos for this post, but I will try to have photos for my next post.

Canyonlands and Newspaper Rock

A couple of weeks ago I took the kids to Canyonlands and Newspaper Rock. Clay was at work, and we got a late start, so we didn't do as much as we wanted to, but it was still really fun!!

Summer Fun #3

We've been doing LOTS of reading this summer
Lots of WORK (the kids are sorting dirty clothes)
The kids also have been swimming at the pool A LOT but I don't have pictures of that because I send them when the Toddlers are taking their nap.

Nick Got Baptized!

We are really proud of Nick. He recognized the truth of the Gospel almost as soon as he came to live with us. He was baptized by Elder Reeves from Logan Utah. His Mom and Dad and Grandparents came to witness the Special Day. Nick asked Grandpa Worthy to give the Talk on Baptism, which was perfect and truly brought the Spirit to the meeting. Nick asked Grandma Gail to give the talk on the Holy Ghost and was the proud recipient of one of her special handmade quilts. Since then he has come to recognize what it means to feel the Spirit. He even bore his testimony for the first time yesterday.

Summer Fun #2

We go to the library every Friday to get our prizes for the Summer Reading program. We learned how to make a crystal garden in our summer reading packets. We had fun at the Dinosaur Museum in Blanding.

Summer Fun #1

We have been busy busy busy in June. Here is a taste of what we have been doing this summer:

We took a day to visit every park in the fine city of Blanding (we have 4!). We've never done that before, have you? We also picked up trash at several of the parks that is why the kids have green gloves on. More to come soon..........!!

Birthdays and Other Stuff

We have been busy learning how to be a family of 7, so I haven't had much time for blogging. This weekend we enjoyed a little family time at Cottonwood. Clay surprised me for my Birthday (a month ago) with my "dream bed" I am a lucky woman!!

Time? Who has Time?

Thomas & Timothy
Eva has discovered that washable markers make cool colored highlights
Nick & Laina our newest kids
What Clay looks like when Mom leaves him alone with the kids for a few days

Time, since becoming a Mother of 5 overnight, I have completely lost my ability to manage time! How did my Mother do it with 6?!!! I can't seem to get anything done, or when I do get something done, it is undone by my 2 babies in the next half second! Poor Clay is feeling extremely overwhelmed. We have had our 2 foster kids since the second week of January, and during that time I have had to go out of town twice for work. He handled my first trip fairly well, but the second trip pushed him over the edge as both foster kids were sick and throwing up all night the whole time I was gone. He is an amazing man. I still can't figure out how I was lucky enough to catch him! In a few weeks I have to go out of town again and I am trying to minimize the impact it will have on him as much as possible. My big work project is getting close to being rolled out. We had training for the new Point of Sale system last week for my team, and we (which really means me) are getting ready to train the rest of the state. There will be a bit of a learning curve for all of us, but it should make our lives easier in the long run.

Our Latest....

New Family Pictures:

We adopted a stray, then found its owner, and thought we would lose her, but all ended well. Here is Tina:

What do you do with a Broken Arm?

Why, show it off of course! A couple of weeks ago Timothy broke his arm in the most boring way: he fell while playing. It wasn't a major fall, it was quite routine, so it took us about an hour to really discover that it was broken. We took full advantage of our new hospital and were in and out in less than an hour. Now he loves to play the sympathy card and prominently display his splint while saying in his most pitiful voice, "I broke my arm"

Too cute picture of Joaquin and Timothy from this summer

The kids had fun playing in the mass of leaves at the church on Main Street

Our new addition (what do you do when your husbands INCREDIBLE boss asks you to take a kitten off his hands? You say yes of course!!) His name is Shez -sound familiar Glovers?

Clay has some serious roofing skills (so do Dad and Worthy) re-roofing Mom and Dad's roof

Priceless Memories

A couple weeks ago Eva and I took a wonderful trip to Cedar City to attend "The Secret Garden" at the Utah Shakespearean Festival. Where are the pictures, you ask? Of course I forgot to take a camera, my children's lives are woefully represented in pictures. We left early Wednesday morning August 12. We had to slow almost to a stop as a deer decided to slowly walk across the road in front of us. Then a little later in the trip we had a crow fly really close to our windshield. I told Eva that if we had hit the crow, our trip would be over. After I answered her question about why it would be over she calmly said,"Yeah, but that wouldn't happen because I said a prayer." Oh the faith she has! Then about halfway there the prettiest little bird flew under us and with a whirl of feathers disintegrated. How sad.
We got to Cedar City with plenty of time to spare before our 2 pm matinee, so we did a little shopping and ate lunch. Eva didn't know what to think when I kept letting her make the choices, she kept saying, "What do you want to do?", or "What do you want to eat?"
The musical was marvelous, we had great seats thanks to our friend Kami (the Marketing Director of the Festival). They even gave Eva a pillow to sit on so she could see over the people in front of us. (What a nice touch)!
After the musical, we went and checked into our motel (The Crystal Inn) and Eva got to take a quick swim before we headed to our friends (Ryan and Kami's) house for dinner Yummy! We really enjoyed our visit with them and then headed back to the motel pool for a few more hours of fun.
The trip home was fairly uneventful except for the freak rain/hailstorm through the part of the interstate with numerous signs that read: "Slippery when wet".
We had such a great time we might need to make it an annual summer tradition!

Baptisms

Mark your calendars for Saturday September 19th at 5. We are plannng to baptize Thomas and little Worthy then! Can you believe they are almost 8?

We Did It!!!

Today was the 10th Annual 5k Fun Run. Nancy & I (and her Sisters) woke up bright and early to participate. I am so appreciative of Nancy for running it with me. It was a goal I set 3 months ago, and it was nice to reach it with her. I also appreciate her humoring me the last 50 meters as we sprinted to the finish line.

Hope you all had a great 4th of July!!!

Broccoli Anyone?

I have been trying to eat better, more vegetables, less sweets, you know that kind of thing. In turn, I am trying to help my kids be healthier too which isn't too hard because they usually like to eat whatever I eat. But holy cow! Do you know how expensive fresh produce is? For one head of broccoli it was over $5 dollars! No wonder America is so obese! Let's see for five bucks I can get a burger, fries, and soda, or one head of broccoli...hmmm......So many great things about living in Blanding, buying fresh inexpensive produce -- not one of them. Oh well!

I Miss My Sweetie!

Clay is on the mountain camping with the Young Men (his new calling is 2nd Counselor in the Young Men) he is also still one of the Gospel Doctrine Teachers.
I am glad that he accepts and fulfills all his callings without complaint. I really need to learn from his example.
I just hate having an empty bed! I know it is only for a few nights, but I really miss his presence in our home.
I am grateful for the blessings of an eternal marriage, I am so thankful to know that we will be together forever. This is especially comforting in light of recent events in our community (see Nan's blog for more info).

Babies Heal Fast!

One week later, and he looks so good! Chrislynn hang in there, yours will heal fast too!

Not our Best Day

Yesterday was a LOOOOOOONG day. We spent part of the morning at a viewing (Clay's Grandma Perkins passed away) the afternoon at a funeral and graveside dedication, and the afternoon and evening at the clinic and hospital.

It was cold at the cemetery so after all the official stuff was done, I took Thomas and Timothy to the truck so they could be out of the cold and watch movies. For some dumb reason the sprinklers were on, so Eva and I were racing to avoid the water, and as Eva opened the back door, Timothy fell out onto the pavement. I initially thought that Eva was the hurt one because she was crazy screaming, but as I listened to her shouting that she had given Timothy brain damage, I realized Timothy was the one in trouble. Brad was quick-thinking enough to grab a diaper for me to hold on Tim's head as we rushed to the clinic. Eva kept crying about it being her fault, and chastised Thomas for not holding on to Timothy. We kept reassuring them that it was all right, but when we got to the clinic and they saw how much blood there was they were both freaking out. Thank goodness at that moment Hollie came back to where we were and offered to take Eva and Thomas to the Family dinner. So Timothy ended up needing 3 stitches to close 2 wounds, and we had to take him to Monticello Hospital for a CT Scan to make sure he didn't have a cracked skull, or swelling of the brain. The fact that we haven't heard back on the scan tells us that it must have been okay, and Tim had been acting fine. I am thankful for my Dad and my Husband. They gave Timothy a Priesthood Blessing, and I know it made all the difference. I am so grateful for extended family. I did not have the ability to take care of Eva and Thomas emotionally yesterday. They needed the love and support of all of our Family so they could deal with the trauma. I am grateful this happened when Clay was with me. I don't think I could have handled it on my own. In fact, Timothy loves his Dad so much, he didn't want me during the clinic/hospital ordeal, he wanted his Daddy. Thanks to all the family who helped us through our first emergency ordeal.