From Utah!

Hi family! In case you didn't know dad and I are in Utah for Rory's blessing! We are having soooo much fun! Even our spin out in Nebraska seems like a dream now! Love you all!

Changes

I can't believe it is almost the end of July! A lot of changes will be happening in the next 2-4 weeks! First Girls Camp starts in 2 weeks and is over in 2 weeks and 2 days! Very short this year due to unforeseen circumstances and finances. I am starting to feel the stress of planning and executing the 4th year camp out. I can't lie... I will be glad when it is over this year.
The day I leave for camp or shortly thereafter, Jordan is leaving for school :( . It is weird to think that he will be a senior in college this year. I swear we just took him down to Morehead for the first time last year! One more year of school and then student teaching and he is ready for the world! But...is the world ready for him? I guess I had better get my fill of marching band in this year!
Then about a week after Jordan leaves, Jacob leaves for Valparaiso to get ready to start Grad school! Hooray for Jacob! Boo that they have to leave here! Kristin is here until the25th of August because Lincoln has a doctors appointment. Then I become alone again :(
It will be weird to be alone during the day. I know that the time will get filled up though, probably with Church stuff! Also, I am thinking about having Doug take me to a shooting range and learn to shoot! I should also become better at the guitar since I will have so much time to practice!
Life should be good!

Why Do We Have This Blog Again??

Hello Family! Why do we have this blog again? No one has written on it in 2 years! Anyways...I just got back from Youth Conference yesterday and it was sooo good! On Thursday we took the youth to the temple to do baptisms. I only had one young woman, Emily McMarrow, so she did the names I had, my Grandma Gardner and Cora Cooper. It was so cool to be there when Grandma's work was done!
Thursday night there was a dance which was okay as dances go I guess. They had the leaders dance to "Can't Touch This" it was awkward!
Friday we went to Hocking Hills and did some clean up work. Those kids were amazing! mostly the group I was with was hauling buckets of rock to fill in on the steps and washed out places. Surprisingly there were not a lot of complainers! Then we went to a campground and set up camp. (and it was PRIMITIVE!) After dinner we took the kids to a pool and it was nice! They also had showers there so most of the kids showered (they needed it!)
In the morning was testimony meeting. As soon as it was over and the closing prayer was said it began to rain, Heavenly Father was watching over us for sure!
Well, I'll write again in 2 years!

All Spread Out

Hi everyone! You are all spread out now! :( Lindsay and Nick and Koen out in Idaho still. Kristin and Jacob and Kimball now in Las Vegas. And Caitlyn and Will, Chaela and Joci still here with us. Who knows where Jordan is! Ok, he is still here but for less than 2 weeks now. :( We will all miss him (except for Chaela). Kristin and Jacob fly home soon! Hope the internship is all you want it to be.

Lindsay and Nick, keep up the good work and you too can get out of Rexburg!

Caitlyn and Will, I know you want out of my basement, but I will miss you when you go!

I am soooo looking forward to Christmas this year. I hope you all can still make it! Maybe the elves will come if you do! How many gingerbread houses will we need this year? We will have a village!

Kristin and Lindsay, I don't know if you knew the Ekins family, but their daughter Katie passed away yesterday, 7/31/10. I don't know any details yet but it was sudden. She is now with her Father in Heaven and in no pain. She was a very sweet spirit and I know she will be with her family in the Celestial Kingdom!

I am glad that all of you are sealed in the Temple!

I love you all!

Jocelyn

Hurray we have a new baby! Jocelyn Eve welcome home! Hopefully soon you will sleep at night and not during the day! Mommy is doing well and daddy just looks tired all the time. Grandma and Grandpa are doing well also! And big sister just wants to love her all the time! Lucky Joci!
Chaela is hangin with grandma right now cause mommy and daddy took Joci for her first check up! We are having so much fun! Chaela told grandma she was hungry and needed breakfast. Then she proceeded to tell grandma she needed a popsicle! We settled on yogurt and granola. We looked out the window for a little bit at grandpas garden (why is it grandpas? grandma it picking out the plants!) We saw the lettuce leafs peeking up thru the ground. Hurray soon we can eat lettuce!
Grandma better get off the computer now cause she's not sure where Chaela is!

Just an Update!

Not much new here, just waiting and waiting for these babies to pop out! Caitlyn is due in about a week and Kristin in another month. And of course now for those of you who haven't heard our little Lindsay is due November 4th! Exciting! By Thanksgiving our family will have expanded to 13, what a lucky number!
Jordan is finishing up his first year of college. I think over all it was a good year for him. The first semester he made the Dean's list! We aren't expecting that this semester as he has had trouble with one of his classes. Unfortunately this was a class he thought he needed for his major. After it was to late to drop the class the school changed this and he no longer needs to have it! Oh well, that's life, always changing in mid stream! I am excited to have him home this summer. Although if he follows the pattern of the girls this will be his last summer at home. They grow up, move away, come home and move away again! When they all move away for the last time we are buying a Winnebago and hitting the road!

This picture is from Easter morning. It was a pretty quiet holiday Caitlyn is to far along for any traveling so we had little egg hunt for Chaela out on the deck. She loved it I think she will be ready for the big time next year!

Moose Poop!

Yesterday during Primary, Becky and I were talking about our dinners. It turns out we were both having pot roast! Hers was already in the crock pot making her home smell delicious! I on the other hand had mine in the kitchen sink still defrosting because I forgot to take it out the night before.Becky was then telling me she was going home and making dinner rolls to go along with it. Mmm... sounds good to me! Her recipe is easy she says. She knows it because she makes it all the time so I write it down and think I will go home and make some homemade dinner for my family too!
I go home and get the pot roast cooking. I get out all the ingredients for the rolls. It doesn't take long, Becky is right! Soon t he dough is in a warm place rising (or so I thought!). After an hour I check the dough. What the??? It is still about the size it was when I put it in!!! So I wait about another 20 minutes. Still no change. What should I do? Start over? I waver, get the ingredients back out, but I really don't want to start over. So, I go ahead and make them up as if they had risen. I put 3 balls of dough in each muffin cup. They baked about 20 minutes and looked and smelled like they were done. I pulled them out of the oven and put them in a basket where some of them fell apart. Caitlyn looks in the basket and says "mom this looks like a basket of little turds!" Doug looks at it and says, " yeah, if you were in Canada this would look like a pile of moose poop!"

Thanks Family! And lets not forget the lesson learned, check the expiration date on your yeast!