Creating a Backyard

Swingset: Check! Lovin' Craigslist.
Trampoline: Check!
Barkchips: Check!
Spa: Check! Thanks Grandma & Grandpa
Pavers: Check!
Sprinklers: Check!
Sod: Check!
Plants & Trees: Check!
Picnic on the new patio: Check! Darn those bees.

Come and play!

I am a Child of God

Our Sacrament Presentation is over! Check!

Jeff spoke and did a great job. He spoke on how the Priesthood helps us. This was his talk that he wrote . . .
The Priesthood helped me when I had swimmer's ear. One night, I was in Alabama with my family, I got swimmer's ear and it hurt really bad. I woke up in the middle of the night in pain and nothing was helping it. My dad and my uncles gave me a blessing and within 5 minutes of the blessing, I was asleep. I'm glad my dad has the Priesthood to help me.

Hannah and Jeff sang really well and did class recitations. They were great.

Ben watched the babies. While tending to Jack, Molly fell on the floor. Hitting her head and screaming her head off. Jack dumped out the whole container of puffs on the pew. Ben was about to leave when Megan, the wonder babysitter, saved the day. Taking turns holding one or the other. They were able to stay the whole program and watch the big kids. Ben was so worn out! I kind of enjoy watching him suffer. Welcome to my world Benny, welcome to my world.

Three Hour Tour

I don't even know how to start this blog entry. It's a doozer!!

It is dinner group time in our ward. We had 3 other couples that we knew well, so we decided to spice things up and go out on the Willamette River for a picnic on the boat. One couple had to cancel due to illness, so my in-laws joined the group and off we went. We were right in downtown Portland, under the bridges at sunset. It was beautiful! We drove into the sunset, under 5-6 bridges, turned around and found another picturesque moment of an almost full moon over the city. It was "pinch me I'm dreaming" cool. We all were laughing and having a great time.

It was Emily's birthday and a pretty cool way to spend it I thought!! They had to jump ship early to go grab her present, kittens and aren't they fortunate.

We decided to drive up river and check out the big mansions. It was getting dark, so we had a "look out" on the bow checking for debris. All was well and we didn't see any "dangerous" spots. But given this was our first time on the river, we were cautious. As time went on, we got a little complacent, we weren't looking as closely. The boys "opened" the boat up and were doing 360s. We were all laughing and having a good time. We went back down to the waterfront and I exclaimed that I was cold and wanted to go. Ben was driving back to the boat ramp. It was 9:10pm. We HAD to be out of the water and through the gates by 10:00pm.

We went from going 40 mph to 0 mph in a matter of seconds. Ben had hit something. We looked to the right and Linda exclaimed, "we hit a sandbar". Ben replied, "that's no sandbar, that's an island". Yes, Ben had hit an island.

Josh and Ben jumped out in SWIMSUITS to see if they could pull it out. No way, the boat was seriously stuck in the deep gooey sand. We all had to get out and see if we could push it out. No way!! We flagged down one of the few remaining boats, a little fishing boat with a drunk captain. He was very nice though and tried his best to pull us free. We snapped 2 ropes, he ran out of gas (fortunately he had 2 tanks), and we were slowly making progress. It is getting closer and closer to 10:00pm. We thought we would try one more time and then we'd call the Coast Guard. Ben was forced to put a life jacket on by his father because he was at the bow, but the rest of us pushing on the swim deck WITH ALL OUR MIGHT were on land, so we didn't put jackets on. We pushed and we pushed and we pushed. At times we were up to our thighs in the thick, gooey, slimy sewage sand of the Willamette. It was crazy!!!! On our last push we could feel it moving, we all yelled to make sure you jumped on the deck if it came free. Finally it lurched forward, we were free!!! Yea!!! Everyone jumps on, but me. The deck is only 4 feet across and getting 6 adults on it was impossible. Josh, my hero, realized I wasn't on and jumped off. Ben yelled at him to get on and he yelled back that I wasn't on. The nice guy who had pulled us out just kept going and going and going. He pulled the boat out to the middle of the river.

Josh and I assuming he would just pull us out a few feet and knowing Ben couldn't come back to the shore decided to swim for it. Josh is in a swimsuit and a great swimmer. I'm fully clothed and NOT a good swimmer and VERY out of shape. We swim and swim and swim. Ben is still not coming back and still not coming back and still not coming back. We are VERY tired from pushing, we are swimming in sewar water, Josh is a germaphobe, the boat is very far away, it is pitch black, no one can see us, and the river is a river, a flowing body of water. We begin to panic a little and decide to swim for the buey, a beautiful green flashing buey. We're swimming and swimming and swimming. (I'm singing in my head the song from "Finding Nemo" Keep on swimming, swimming, swimming, keep on swimming.) I'm a bit upset at Ben for all of this and yell at the top of my lungs, "Ben, get that @#$&#$ boat over here RIGHT now". I hear him say, "they're in the water?". He thought we were still on shore. NO WE'RE NOT ON SHORE!!!! Fortunately the boat starts and he comes and gets us out. The others throw us life jackets, Josh received Molly's infant "up to 30 lbs." jacket. It was comical.

People...this is how drownings occur. PUT ON A DAMN LIFEJACKET IF YOU ARE IN OR NEAR THE WATER. We're idiots, but we're alive!!! a three hour tour . . .

Ms. Molly

She is such a joy in our family. She laughs from the tips of her toes. What a doll!!

Sweet Home Alabama

It's GREAT to be EIGHT!

Hannah was baptised a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on July 20th, 2008 by her dad in Birmingham, Alabama. All my family were there (except the Mortensen clan--sad) and it was a very nice service. My family rallied around and did the program, the talks, the prayers, the music, witnessed, filled the font, everything. It was a heart warming and momentous day for Hannah and everyone there.

The last time we were all together for a baptism was my brother in-law, Phil's baptism. He spoke to Hannah about his conversion and shared his testimony to all of us. I really appreciated the love and spirit it brought to the day. What a great example for my kids and to me!

I appreciate all of you that helped and all those who supported her baptism whether you were there or not. She is a very loved little girl!

Posts to Come to Cover the WHOLE Summer

This post is to silence my dear friend and NAG, Emily. I realize I haven't posted, but I will get to it . . . soon. TTFN, SDW