Pics from the Washington IronMan

On our way to Washington we took just the baby - talk about traveling light... It was amazing how "free" we felt with just 1 little kiddo. I think that the baby really enjoyed the one on one time too.




The race started early and the water - according to those foolish enough to jump in was COLD! Rich had a great swim time - just over an hour for 2.4 miles

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The bike portion was full of hills but beautiful. Rich biked 112 miles and climbed over 4,400 miles in hills.


The run was a full 26.2 mile marathon and it was the only part that I was worried about but Rich did great. He was chipper and joking the whole way.

He did it!

Congratulations to my wonderful man - He just finished a full iron distance triathlon - 2 mile swim, 112 mile bike and a 26.2 mile marathon. Way to go baby!

So...

So we are entering a new chapter in our lives - Rich and I left all the kids except the baby home so that we could go on a road trip. How cool is that. We drove up to Washington and the views were amazing. So different from the lush green of Oregon. It is also just so cool that after 15 and a half years of marriage we didn't run out of things to talk about our entire trip. We didn't even turn on the raidio
I'll post pics later.

Ugggh!

So I bravely took 7 kids to the pool yesterday where I sat for two hours in the kiddie pool - aka the "pee pool" - with about 20 toddlers.
This morning 4 kids are sick.
I really need a maid and a nanny.
Oh and I could use my own personal trainer...

Saying good-bye to Summer

I can't believe that Summer is almost over. Technically Fall doesn't begin until Sept. 22 but once September is here and school starts Summer is over. We have one last trip planned and maybe this week we will sneak back to the beach before the rainy season starts in earnest.

See - I've been posting more

So I have had a few days of playing with the blog and keeping it up to date. I often resolve to post more regularly on the blog - we shall see...
I added a link to many of the blogs of friends and family. I think that it is a very cool gadget. I really like it when I stumble upon a blog of a long lost acquaintance and get to read all about what they have been up to for the last decade or so. I recently did just that - I clicked on a random link on the Texas Andersons blog and up popped a woman from my single's ward from 20 years ago - how fun is that!

It's good to have friends...

My friend Sylvia from Grammar school is here visiting for a couple of days. We haven't seen each other in more than eight years but it is great how we are still the same. Still laughing and rolling our eyes about the same things - it is good to have friends who knew you back when...

Summer Project - Knitting

The kids have been after me to teach them how to knit for over a year now. Having no knitting experience myself - we have been struggling with hand me down needles and scraps of yarn, Finally my friend Sue suggested that I just bite the bullet and buy the good stuff at the local (rather expensive) knit shop. Let me tell you there is a difference - Having the right yarn with the right needles made the experience so much more fun. The kids have all made scarves for winter and are working on hats and mittens. Gannon and Kyra are knitting stuffed animals for Hannah's birthday.
This weekend the kids even made their own knitting needles by sanding and sharpening dowels and making funky end caps out of sculpy. I really want to find some skeins of raw wool so that we can dye it ourselves. I have read that kool-aid makes fabulous colors of yarn. If we keep this up we will be spinning and shearing our own sheep - hmmm how is that for a homeschool project...

My knitting research led me to this interesting pattern:



http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter04/PATTwomb.html

Yup - that's right a womb.
You know - the homeschool mom in me thought hmmmm.... might be a great way to weave in a lesson on human anatomy...

Okay - okay...

So in the last 2 weeks I have had 5 different people come up to me and out of the blue complain that I have not updated my blog in the last few months. I didn't even know that 5 people read our blog. Who knew! So okay - okay - I'll work on it - but no promises - Do you realize how many kids I have?

Hey - she's kid #5

Kyra

I just love this photo of Kyra. This is so much her personality.

This is how I feel most mornings...

This is how I feel most mornings ... slightly off kilter, babies screaming, kids practicing pianos - flutes - trombones - guitars- DRUMS... (what were we thinking?) The chaos is amazing with 7 kids in the house but there is always something fun to do and truth be told... I like the chaos.

Weekend with the cousins

This past Mother's day weekend the kids got to spend time with the "other" Joneses.

This baby is getting way too big

So the baby is now 4 1/2 months old and sorta sleeping through the night... He is almost 20 lbs! and is wearing 12 month size everything. He has blown through all of the clothes that I bought him. He is a cutie.


Have you ever seen such a beautiful baby?

Jesi's Birthday

We celebrated Jesi's 19th birthday with cake, balloons and ice cream - yummy!

Easter 2008

new photo

Not even a month old yet - Isn't he a handsome little guy???
He is doing really well - has already gained nearly 2 lbs and is sleeping more- which is still not much.
I am feeling my age this time 'round - sleep deprivation is so much easier in your early 20's than it is in your late 30's!

Eli's Baptism

We've been a bit busy lately so I have not had the time to post the pictures from Eli's Baptism. He was baptized on December 16th 2007. Se was so excited that he stationed himself as the front entrance of the Stake Center and opened the door for all of the people while shouting "Welcome to my baptism - I'm the one getting baptized!" It was pretty funny he was also taking most of the photos. He has such a huge personality and it was in evidence on that night.

Hannah - also known as "Little Miss Torture"

Why waste time with ineffective waterboarding techniques - just give the terrorists over to Hannah - She'll deal with them one handed...





Oscar the dog knows not to get in Hahhah's way - He is still recovering from the time she "fixed" him single-handedly!




The thing is... she is just so cute when contemplating the infliction of pain...

New Baby

Isn't he beautiful? The kids have started to call him Jack Sparrow - they can't pronounce Alejandro - The Sparrow part will wear off but we kinda like Jack...




Here is one more picture taken with Photobooth

Eel Lake

We celebrateed the last day of Summer by camping near Eel Lake on the Oregon coast. It was beautiful! The sun shone the entire three days, the temps were perfect and the kids had a great time. Rich took the kids mountain biking while I read and Hannah slept. On our last day we all went to the little Wildlife Safari on the Southern Coast and got to play with a seven week old white Siberian Tiger cub. She was a cutie - but my personal favorite was the cross-eyed opossum.

Karate Testing

Well - another term of Karate has come and gone. We are all advancing and the things we are learning are getting more and more difficult. We are all getting bigger and brighter bruises but is really is fun.

About 2 weeks ago I was in Wal-Mart with Gannon and he turns to me and says: "Hey mom, I learned how to pop out a person's eye balls!"
"Great," I said, "just don't do it to your brother."

Triathlon - Tri Rocks!

We had our 2nd annual kids triathlon at the lake. This year we had 15 kids participate in a 50 yd swim, 1.5 mile bike & 1 mile run. The kids had a fantastic time and also raised money for the homeschool section at our little local library.

Eli and some of the peaches

Peach Season is in full swing

Peaches are finally ready - I took the kids to the orchard and within 20 minutes (no lie) they picked over 75 lbs.

Aaaaccckkkk! Do you realize how many peaches I have to process??? A lot!