Happy 12th Birthday, Kelsey!

Dear Kelsey,

Twelve years (and two days) ago, you were born. I will never forget that day as long as I live. I was at the park with Conner and McKenzie and felt like I was starting to go into labor, 3 1/2 weeks before your due date. I came home and cleaned the house, so that it wouldn't be a mess when we got home from the hospital....pretty silly, but true. I drove up to the hospital, not knowing for sure whether I was really in labor. They told me I was, so I called Dad at work to let him know that it was time for you to be born. Your labor was a breeze. As we waited for you to be born, I remember how excited we were to find out if you were going to be a boy or a girl. We were thrilled to find out that you were a girl! It has been such a joy to watch you grow up. You are a very sensitive, compassionate, kind, hilarious, adventurous, and thoughtful person. You enjoy giving to others, you think about what other people like, you struggle to do what you know is right, you are honest and open with your challenges, you want to rely on God for help, you have a beautiful smile and laugh, you love soccer, you love to play games, you love to be with your friends, you love Toms, you love popcorn with tons of butter, you love being with your sister, you adore your grandparents, you love Instagram, you love taking pictures, you work hard, you hate to clean your room, you love making pancakes and cupcakes, and you make our family complete. We love you, Kelsey!

Family Camp 2012

We had another great time at family camp this year - over 670 people from our church rented out most of the campground. You would never know from the pictures that we actually were at a campground right next to the beach - I didn't bring my camera down there to take any pictures! (Some of the pictures above are copied from my friend's photobucket account, and I couldn't figure out how to make them bigger....oh well.) This year we borrowed the Hearings' trailer which we loved - camping is so much more enjoyable when we can stay warm at night! We had plenty of room, as McKenzie stayed in a tent on our site with 3 of her friends, and Kelsey stayed in a tent with her friend. Conner's friend Parker joined us for the weekend - he was great to have along. During the days we played games, rode bikes into Manzanita for milkshakes and coffee, hung out with lots of friends, went on walks on the beach, went through an open house in Manzanita as we imagined owning a beach house, read books, and cooked, cooked, and cooked some more! We had delicious meals - of spaghetti, burned french bread (oops), kabobs, hamburgers, etc. We were much more organized this year with group coolers, a beverage station, snack table, etc. It was so fun to see all of the teamwork that goes into setting up camp and making meals for the 28 people who participated from our Bible study group and how everyone gets along so well.

Why it's important to make sure toilet handles don't get stuck...

After getting home from Sunriver, I did all the laundry and had a huge mound of laundry at the foot of our bed. I was too tired to fold it, but I wanted the pile to not be quite as big in the morning so I decided to just fold the towels and put them away. The mound reduced quite a bit, and we went to bed. At 12:30 a.m. the kids were just heading up to bed when they heard dripping in the kitchen. They found that water was leaking through the light fixture in the kitchen. They ran upstairs to tell us that water was leaking. Peter jumped out of bed, and I laid there for a few seconds trying to figure out what was going on....Peter then discovered that the toilet handle was stuck in the down position, and water had been pouring out of the toilet. It flooded the bathroom, into part of the hall, down through the kitchen light, cracked a piece of the dining room ceiling, flooded the floor in the dining room, etc...Remember all those towels I folded? Well, that was one of God's ways of helping us out that night. Instead of trying to find all the towels while we were half asleep, the towels were all ready to go to soak up all the water. We used every towel we owned, and used cups to scoop water out of the bathroom into the tub. I e-mailed our awesome insurance agent (my brother) after we cleaned up and asked if he could call us in the morning. We then went back to sleep, only to find out the next morning, the clean up was just beginning. I didn't realize how much damage a leaky toilet can make in such a short amount of time! My brother called us first thing in the morning, gave us the phone numbers we needed to file our claim and to start the clean up process. The restoration company (Kennedy Restoration) was out to our house within a few hours, and they have been amazingly helpful. Everything is drying out now. They had to set up a dehumidifier which pumps out 90 degree heat - hot! Given all the dust and heat, we had to get out of the house. Our insurance company paid for a hotel for us for the past two nights. Tonight we are able to open up the windows, so it is much cooler in here now. I think we will have a busy few weeks ahead of us with having walls replaced, ceilings redone, a new bathroom put in. When I start to feel a little grumpy, God reminds me of all of the good things in the situation: we have a house, we have insurance, we had a place to stay when our home was in what we consider to be unlivable circumstances (I sure couldn't make it in a third world country!), we have toilets to go to the bathroom in - I know, that's a little much, but it's true!, I am on vacation right now so I'm home to take care of everything, we are in the midst of an adventure, and our bathroom could use an update :).

Sunriver Vacation

We just returned from our Sunriver vacation hosted by Grandma and Grandpa! They rented two beautiful houses and treated us to some very fun activities. One of the highlights of the trip was celebrating my dad's retirement. We had a "peanut butter" retirement party for him (one of his favorite foods) with dinner and peanut butter desserts. Sara made amazing peanut butter bars for all of us. After dinner we watched a video that we had made to celebrate my dad. I don't think there was a dry eye in the room as Bob led off sharing about my dad. It was a very special time. Another highlight was 19 of us going on a float on the river. Dad and Bob stayed back to golf - they might have been the smart ones :). Actually, it was quite the experience with lots of great laughs. There were no rapids whatsoever, so we actually had to work to get down the river. After 3 1/2 hours of paddling with 11 children, the parents and grandparents immediately went out for margaritas and chips and salsa upon returning home :). We enjoyed the new water park, going on bike rides and walks, going on the bumper cars, celebrating Zach's 11th birthday, eating Mary's delicious baked pancake (pictured above), playing lots of games, tubing down the big hill, driving to Bend for dinner, and just being together. The theme song of the weekend became "Steam Train" (stolen from a song on the little kids' train that drives around the resort). Jim busted out in the Steam Train song many times during the weekend when we needed encouragement to keep paddling and to add some humor to weekend. He even started a Steam Train dance (very first picture on this post) as we walked down the street. Thanks, Jim, for always making us laugh! And thanks, Mom and Dad, for a very fun time. We love you to the moon and back!