Retreat

Remember a few weeks ago when I was lamenting about my huge list of stuff to accomplish before July 1st? Well, I'm happy to report that except for the quilt squares and doing payroll taxes, I have finished it all!! I think after Monday, I'll be ready to leave for Utah with the girls! This last Friday I was privileged to speak at our Young Women's retreat on the beach at Waldport. I spoke on the importance of letting go of the worries and stresses in our life that we really have no control over. After my talk, the Young Women put their stress and worries onto a pieces of paper and stuffed them into a jar with a glowstick. When it got dark, they all walked the half mile to the outgoing tide. (The tide was SOOOO far out). They threw their cares and worries into the sea and let the tide take them away. It was a really neat night. Charlotte got to go with me even though she's only 10. I enjoyed her company so much! We didn't get home until 1:30 a.m.

Here's the rest of this week's happenings. It's been fun and busy!

12 years

Happy 12th anniversary my love! I can't believe it's been 12 years since the most wonderful day of my life. We've had a few kids (to say the least), gained a few pounds, lost some hair, bought a house, served in new and challenging church callings, and started a business. Pretty good for 12 years wouldn't you say? I am so happy to say that after 12 years, we are just as passionately in love as we were back then...if not more so. Casey is my other half. I look back on my life and think that it really started when I met Casey. How lucky I am! Truly, Truly lucky!



We were pretty skinny back then weren't we??


Here's the next week of my project 365. Enjoy!

Primary Mega-Activity

I never feel like the summer can officially start until we have completed our annual Primary Super, Mega Activity. This is our fourth year and this year, it got even bigger. We invited four wards to our activity...Springfield 3rd (ours), Springfield 4th, Blue River and Oakridge. In total, we had 130 kids and 50 leaders there! The forecast called for rain all week so we were really worried. The Lord however, blessed us by keeping the rain in Eugene only (where it poured) and kept us nice and dry. He truly watches out for us...even the little things, like keeping a primary activity dry. Anyway, Casey (aka "Peter Pan" as some of the adults began to call him) brought out four of his giant inflatable toys and all of his field games stuff. The kids had SOO much fun rotating through all the outdoor stuff and then doing two crafts inside. Casey also brought out the sno cone machine to cool everyone off. At the end, we BBQ'd hot dogs and had fresh fruit for lunch. It was an exhausting day but a very fun one! I felt bad for poor Casey as he had to hustle and roll everything up, just to go back out and set more inflatables up at another event in Veneta. The guy never gets a rest this time of year. I really appreciated him being willing to share his business with our Primary. He is such a cool Bishop!

Charlotte and her team win the "Big Feet" competition.


Down the 24 foot slide they go.

Allison and Drew cool off with sno cones.

Tug of War...random kids, none of mine are in this picture.



We have the coolest Bishopric. This is Brother Marchant...he's one of Casey's counselors (and has been for 3 years now). He stayed out at the giant slide for 3 solid hours, helping kids on and off. Then, he helped roll up. We really appreciate him! (I know Casey does too!)


Finally, this is my weekly Project 365 layout. Check it out!

One Week Down!!

Well, I've made it four days with the kids home from school for the summer. My house is a little messier, my cupboards are a little emptier and my stress level is just a touch higher. In just the last four days we have, done sidewalk chalk, gone to the park, decorated cakes, played with Play-doh, picked strawberries and done a 750 piece puzzle. Not to mention the computer games, pictures colored and chores done. I'm tired already and we've got 3 months to go!! It has been nice to not have to adhere to a schedule though. We did start a new program in our house. As a family, we came up with both chores and fun things to put into a jar we called the "I'm bored" jar. Whenever one of the kids says, "Mom, I'm bored," or, "I don't know what to do," they have committed to pull something out of the jar. It could be a chore (which they hate) or something fun like riding their bike. Either way, they MUST do whatever they pull out. It has been funny because some of my kids will get halfway through complaining about being bored and then will stop themselves, and go find something to do. No one wants to risk pulling a chore!

I posted my next project 365 week below. Click on them and get the details of the girls' last days of school!

End of school fun

Well, school is out today! I dropped the kids off at school for the last time this morning. Due to statewide budget cuts (thank you bad economy) the schools had to cut 15 million for this year and next in our district alone. As a result, we lost five days this year and they cut five days next year. That means that every other week next year is a four day week. Ughh. They are cutting things like after school sports, extra curricular stuff and school supplies. I don't understand why, when there's a drop in tax revenue, the government has to first attack the schools? There is no drop off in their wages, no cut to needless social services, welfare or other wasteful spending...nope, they threaten the schools. I guarantee, if our politicians did some honest soul searching, they would easily find 15 million in stupid, wasteful projects to cut instead of ripping off the schools. As much as I love Oregon, our liberal, Democrat run government leaves alot to be desired!

Anyway, I posted a few scrapbook pages of events that happened in the last week. Enjoy!



Hendricks park is beautiful this time of year.




Charlotte performs her Safety Patrol duties!

Looking back

This week, Casey and I have been working on a special slide show that we are going to show at this year's Westover/Wartena reunion in August. We are going to visit Casey's 94 year old Grandma Bea who is in a nursing home. To make the slideshow extra special, we have kind of made it a tribute to this great lady. We have been rummaging through boxes of photos and photo albums looking for pictures of Grandma Bea, Grandpa Loren and the Westover family through the years. I have been reading the history of Casey's grandpa, Loren. I must say, it has been fascinating to read how different his life was from ours. For some reason, depression-era histories are so interesting to me. There was so much hardship, and yet, so much joy. Anyway, the girls have LOVED looking at old pictures of the Westover "seven" as Grandma Walburger calls them. They love the seventies outfits, the seventies hair and most of all, they love looking at pictures of their crazy dad at their age.

the "Westover seven" --(Missing Andie for some reason) Bryce, Niel, Maria, Charlotte, Casey, Jeremy and Grandma Walburger.

Here is the Westover seven sometime in the eighties or early nineties...I'm not sure.

We have a lot of work to do on this project but it is coming together. I have new love and respect for Grandma Bea. What a great lady!

I also posted my new week of project 365. It's been an interesting one to say the least...