Opa and Oma came for a visit to Idaho!!! Mariah took art lessons from Oma and Opa learned how to play Settlers, read stories to Katie... we watched HS basketball, Ratatouille, and just enjoyed being able to relax :-)

Caleb is now a Bear in scouts! And- as of Jan 08... I am now his scout leader- now that is scary! Caleb got almost every award you could get for a Wolf~ and had a fantastic scout leader- Tresa (who is now my boss at work!) We LOVED Tresa as Caleb's scout leader- it was a fantastic year~

4 children visited with Santa this year.... so, Shawn got coal in his stocking.

went on a fieldtrip with Caleb to the local newspaper and library... we had fun! Katie got to tag-a-long too~ which was so cute... Caleb and his friends are really nice to her~

Boone Barnes- a published music CD-er (opps- musician?!), came to our home and played the guitar for our family~ everyone loved it! We had a ton of fun that evening~ His sweetheart even got 6 strikes in a row playing wii bowling- whew! Caleb particularly enjoyed the guitar... I can see it!

Thanksgiving with the Kings- family fun!!!! We laughed and laughed and played and ate and were VERY grateful~ just perfect!

I thought maybe Joshua was doing this experiment for a science fair project... nope... he just wanted too... I keep trying to convince him he can have a dual meaning to this... nope... for his project for school he has something else in mind... so, this was just 'cuz... Josh said so.

Here is my new nephew- Oslo.... his pictures make us smile so huge every time we look at them... ohhh... about daily! We LOVE Oslo... the children have absolutely fell in love with Oslo pictures- Caleb keeps them updated in his desk at school!! His class receives new updates during show-n-tell... yah- we are in Oslo Mania :-) Amazing~ we are in love~

Josh is now 11 years old!!! Yikes- time is going way to fast!!!! we LOVE u, Josh :-)

Shawn is now playing high school JV basketball... whew... one busy busy boy.... he has practise every day, as well as driver's ed... the main difference from Junior High sports to High School- much later hours- much longer games- and the season lasts forever! And, I am happy to report that he only missed straight A's this semester by 2 points (got one B in a class)- finals were more stressful for Mom than for Son :-) (I don't know how you study for finals when you are gone all the time?! ) PS- he is driving now... that's a good thing... it will be expensive- but, worth it! By the way- he is now 15 years old~~ next year is when he can start dating the girls~~ YIKES!!

Caleb and Josh came up with their costumes... I thought they were soooo creative- for someone who doesn't like Halloween... I sure enjoyed the children's fun ideas :-)

Our creative Pumpkin fun!!

Here was some of our Halloween fun!!

This is Panda... a kitty that we "trained" for Oma and Opa... she was a delight to have around~ while she was here, we thought that she was this petite mild mannered calm kitty and that our Cuddles kitty was the spaz.... opps... evidently Panda is running crazy in her new home and well,.... Cuddles is not! We are surprised at how long it has taken for our kitties to adjust to the non-Panda life :-) I think we are going to be okay.... barely....

This is Mariah's 2007 volleyball picture... isn't she so cute!!! Okay- cute is probably not the right word... how about... gorgeous- yep!

Shawn's paintball war scar of which he was sooo very proud of- ?-?-?- it has left no permanent damage to his skin...but, ..... he wants to do it again....????? :-) hee, hee, hee.... he really did have a blast- and he has done it again- without injury this time!

How could we have forgotten flag football.... Caleb spends 3/4 of the year waiting for his 6-8 weeks of football!! He made several touchdowns and all that awesome stuff :-)

Here was a trip we took to South Jordan Utah in Oct, 2007... we were visiting my mom who recently moved there! The fall trees were gorgeous along the way, we ate super yummy food- particularly the breakfast speciality of Opa's, had fun in the kitchen, were educated about serving in the forces and NASA, and enjoyed fine art :-)

It is a beautiful full moon tonight~ we took some time to get out of the car (in the middle of the road of course- I love living in Idaho) and admire the beauty of God's creations~ we couldn't get the camera to show it, but the mountains were just underneath it and were glowing- what a gorgeous sight~ I am grateful for children who enjoy such things too!

Tonight, Joshua earned 14 awards/pins, his Weblos badge, and his Arrow of Light (that is a very big one to earn- a whole ceremony happens for this one)!!! He has worked very hard in scouts and was so pleased tonight that I thought he was just going to burst!! We took him over to the Reynold's home- "Grandpa" Reynolds was the first scout of this troop and is the first eagle scout of the area~ it was fun to go to his home and show him what Josh and Caleb have accomplished~