A Thanksgiving Dance!

Mom's imagination has been "taking off" with her a lot lately. Here is a good example of how it "took off" on Thanksgiving day. "All I can say is that I have never cried so much from laughing so hard than when she was doing this little dancing session" said Abby.

We thought you would all be amused by this little trip back to the 70's.

He Finally Did It!!

McKay has finally done it. He was sworn in to the United States Marine Corp. on Tuesday, October 16 and is now a recruit. He has signed up to be a combat engineer, which means he will be dealing primarily with construction and demolition. His plans are to go to boot camp next July after graduating from high school. Boot camp will last 3 months along with about 7 more months of formal training. Then he will request to fulfill a religious obligation so he can serve a mission, maybe in Wyoming! Who would have ever thought our "little McKay" would be in the military . . . we thought all of this time that he wanted to be a "wurker" (something he used to say when he was 4-5 yrs old).

It's About Time to Update!

It's been quite a while since we blogged so I guess we better get back in the swing of things. It's been a busy last month or so. It seems like every time we turn around we are taking Abby to a drum line rehearsal or a soccer practice or a performance or a game or to a friends house or to the store for something she can't live without. And then there is Mac. At times we have to go looking for him to make sure he's still alive and breathing. Mac has finally made the ultimate move for independence. He is now driving the old van to school. If I'm not mistaken, everyone of our kids have driven the van to school or somewhere one time or another except for maybe Cass. And of course, Paige wouldn't be caught dead in the van, especially in the driver's seat! Did you ever drive the old van Cass? The only thing that bothers Mac about the van is it's 5 mpg. You can watch the gas gauge go down when you're driving up the hill to our house.


Griffin has been assigned the responsibility of Zone Leader in the mission. This gives him charge over the missionaries of many districts. He has to coordinate interviews for baptisms, weekly meetings and a monthly zone conference. We are very proud of him at his obedience and his testimony that has been strengthened. We got an email from the mission president that said that Griffin is a very devoted, obedient, hard worker and they trust him with the responsibility he has been given. We love you Grif!







Happy Birthday to our Jonas. How incredibly fast this last year has gone. He already has 8 teeth and can navigate quite freely around the house. And talk about language. He has his own but it can be non-stop at times.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!!!!!!!

Happy birthday to the best grandma in the world! We are so glad to have such a sweet and fun mother, grandma and great grandma. We hope you have a wonderful day celebrating your special day. WE LOVE YOU!!!

What a busy summer!

Well, it's finally come to an end, the busiest summer in recent memory. We have hiked, trekked, camped, driven for hours, stayed up late, got up early, married off children, had bridal showers, open houses and receptions, sat in traffic, finished eagle requirements, and lived to tell about it. August 22, 2007 is a date we will never forget. Paige and Matt finally tied the knot in the Salt Lake Temple. It was an awesome day and everything went perfectly. We are so excited to have Matt join the family, although we have thought of him as family for about 6 years now! Paige is lucky to be part of the Cahoon family as well. They have a huge family and she will never be short on in-laws.

McKay is Finally An Eagle Scout, Whew!!!

Believe it or not, McKay finally completed all of the requirements necessary to become an Eagle Scout. As always, Mom was the chief motivating factor along the way. Lately she had to become quite firm in her admonitions. Dad only had to take a kitchen knife away from her once during one of her latest motivation sessions. Actually the event went quite well and McKay did a pretty good job organizing and leading the project once Mom got him motivated. He ended up with a smaller group than he wanted but those who attended were pleased with the Sherrif's presentation and the child ID cards that were created for each attendee. Congradulations McKay on a job well done!

THE BOYS ARE BACK!!!

Well the men of the house, and I do mean MEN, completed their 50 mile hike on Saturday and the report is that it was awesome. Dad and Mac said it was the hardest 50 mile hike they have been on. The 8-10 hour day hikes were excruciating and tested the body's (especially the old one's) physical strength to the absolute max. They were covering 9 to 12 miles with 1500 to 2500 feet of elevation climb or decent each day for 5 days. The amazing thing is that except for sore feet and a few blisters from the pounding of a 60 pound backpack and a 230 pound body, they are in pretty good condition. Dad, after having lost 10 lbs getting ready for the hike, even lost another 10 lbs on the hike. What a guy. The mountains are unbelievably beautiful. At one point they were at a fire lookout station where they could see all the mountain peaks from Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainer in Washington to Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson in Oregon. Seven major mountain peaks across Washington and Oregon. The old growth forests with 1000 year old trees, wild Ferns and Rhododendrons everywhere along with the opal and emerald colored creeks and lakes kept the mind off the fact that you were just about to die from exhaustion. The long hikes each day made the fact that you were going to be sleeping on ground that wasn't necessarily flat or soft bearable because you were so exhausted. But with one step at a time and approximately 105,600 steps later up and down 5000 ft. mountains, they're back and mighty glad they went. No wonder their feet are tired!!!

Fun in the Sun

Our heat wave was to hit on Tuesday and so Monday afternoon Abby, Paige, and McKay decided to go to the Vials (a ranch just over the hill from us owned by some friends from the ward) and do a little swimming, laying out for the girls and dirt biking for McKay. Abby was also fascinated with the 4-wheeler. That seems to be the closest to driving that she will come for a while. These shots were taken as they "roughed" it at the Vial property. McKay would ride his bike 24/7 if he could. They all love it out there probably because it is so lazy and relaxed. We are busy, busy getting Paige and Matt's wedding organized. Russ and McKay are getting ready for their 50 mile hike in southcentral Oregon, Cascades Mountain Range in 2 weeks. Russ and the girls have been jogging every night trying to get into shape. Hopefully these 50 miles won't do Russ in!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA ALLEN!!

Happy Birthday to our favorite Grandpa Allen. If we calculate it right, you are a ripe 82 today! We love you and are happy to make you a part of our blog. Looking at these pictures, you really haven't changed much! Have a wonderful day!

Fun at the Rodeo

Our Fourth of July was memorable to say the least. Abby was off at EFY and so Mom, Dad, Paige and McKay had to go it alone! We had a normal, boring morning but that afternoon we barbequed up some hamburgers with chips and a fruit salad and then headed off to the St. Paul rodeo. After parking and walking a mile to the stadium, we fought the crowds just to get to the ticket booth. After picking up our tickets we were quite bothered because we had purchased beforehand drinks in glass bottles which they confiscated until we could get the appropriate glassware to hold the drinks. They must have known of our plans to make weapons out of those bottles! Dad and Paige went on a cup hunt and soon returned with our drinks. The rodeo was fun and we were excited because the star of the rodeo clowns was from Utah, and yes he was LDS. He was really funny and we had a great time. There weren't any injuries which we were happy for, however, that made for quite an uneventful show. After the rodeo we watched fireworks. There weren't many but enough to be able to call them fireworks. We hope everyone else's 4th of July celebration was as good as ours.

A Griffin Mission Video

I just figured out how to post a video so we are adding a little clip that Griffin sent us a couple of weeks ago. It is a month or so old but it is still fun to see and hear from our missionary. As for the rest of us Mom and Abby have been at Girl's Camp all week and we are expecting them to come home at any time now. When they get home we will have them give an update of their week and include a picture or two if they took any.

SHE'S SWEET 16!

Today Abby turned the big 16. We had a surprise party for her last night out at the Vial Compound. There were friends, hot dogs, cake, licorice, smores, swimming, and a big bonfire (known to dad as 'bombfire'). She seemed to have a good time. Of course, it is never big or grand enough and always lacks something but the family had a good time.

Elder Allen Update

We recently received a bunch of pictures from our Missionary in Brazil and wanted to show a couple of our favorites. As you can see the work is going well.

The picture below seems to indicated Griffin and his companions have developed a system that gets investigators through the process a little quicker. Griffin loves the work and is doing very well. He has mastered the Portuguese language and has even been told that he talks like a native!

Moto Mac, Mom's Class Graduation, Bye Tazzy

Here is the latest news from mom and dad. You all know by now that McKay is the proud owner of a 1980 Yamaha IT 175 dirt bike. Here is a picture of the proud owner with his new helmet, gloves, goggles, and various other equipment. Doesn't he look snazzy.

Also, mom's class had their graduation ceremonies with two proud graduates, Larnez and Daniel. Here is a picture of the two with the aides that have worked with them. Yay, the school year is over!!!!

One sad note that happened today was Tazzy joined Sig in the big giant, heavenly field. The two of them will be running together for infinity and beyond.

Mom's first blog attempt

I am just learning what a blog is and all that you can do with a blog. We are busy on the homefront getting Paige's wedding under control, making sure girls camp is happening in two weeks, helping the girls sew their pioneer trek clothing for the August trek, getting ready for the 50 mile hike and preparing for this weekend's youth trip to the beach. Dad has to lose a mere 30 pounds before he goes on the 50 miler. Other than that we are full of free, leisure time. When all of this is over we will have to go back to school. Ughhhhh . . . . This is a picture of McKay on his snow caving outing. He is excited because he just bought his very own dirt bike and new helmet. We will post a picture later when he is in full gear.

Here we go!

It seems like we need to get with it and create our own little blog to keep everyone up to speed with what's going on with us.

Abby is off marching in the Rose Festival Grand Floral parade, Mckay is working hard at "Water to Go", Mom is somewhere sewing pioneer clothing for the upcoming pioneer trek and Paige and Dad are keeping the home fires burning. We are excited to hear what everyone is up to so keep the posts coming.