Our little Faith Ann

The newest member of our family arrived on Friday, October 23rd at 4:07 pm. She weighed 8 pounds 10 ounces and was 20 inches long. We are so glad to finally have her here and we hope that she can stay healthy through this winter season of illness.

My due date was October 24th and we thought she would come earlier, but I guess she enjoyed hanging out in the comfort of my womb. We decided to have labor induced on Friday. A few weeks earlier, Eli, Joe, & Angelina all came down with what the Dr. suspected as the H1N1 virus. I was put on Tamiflu and told to keep my baby inside as long as possible. I guess I did too good of a job. Luckily, by the time she arrived, everyone was healthy.

My first car ride.

Angelina & Joe meet their new sister for the first time. They weren't allow to visit at the hospital because of the new restrictions in place because of the H1N1 flu.


My Mom was able to come out and stay with us for 2 weeks. Unfortunately, she was only able to visit with Faith for about 5 days because of her late arrival. We appreciated her help and we were sad to see her leave.

Baby Step #3

When Angelina was born I had a month worth of dinners in my freezer thanks to Saving Dinner. It worked out great. Since our family follows a diet that helps Joe with his Tourette Syndrome, it is hard to accept meals from others because the list of restrictions is lengthy. I wanted to do the same for the arrival of this baby. I found the best way for me to accomplish this goal is by using their Five For the Freezer system. Some people prefer to assemble a months worth of food in one day, but I find it is easier for me to do 5 meals at a time. The last few paychecks I have been tyring to work in the purchase of the extra meals. One week I froze 5 pork meals, another week I assembled 5 meals using ground beef, another week I did five meals with fish, and because chicken was such a great price, I was able to get 10 chicken dinners frozen. On the Saving dinner website, you can purchase the recipes for a minimal price. They come with the shopping list, assembly instructions, and recipes. The night before, you put the meal in the fridge and it is ready to be cooked by dinner the next day. So easy.

Cookie baking day

Angelina loves her cookies. They can be frozen and come right out of the freezer or they can be warm right out of the oven. It doesn't matter. I usually make a double batch of cookies and freeze most of them so that the children have cookies to put in their lunch. Our favorites our Oatmeal chocolate chip and Peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip.

Angelina playing with her cousin

It was fun to watch Angelina playing with her cousin Sabina.

However, I realized that I will have my work cut out for me. If you look at Angelina you can see that she is getting ready to take her toy back from Sabina. She has apparently already learned at 17 months of age that she does not want to share her toys with anybody. It may be a challenge for her to adjust to a new baby.

Granola Bars

I recently got this recipe from a friend. It has become a family favorite for our lunch boxes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a large jelly roll pan with non-stick spray. Put 5 cups of Whole oats (not quick oats) in the pan and toast them for 15 minutes, stirring them every 5 minutes.

Combine the oats with 5 cups of rice Krispies and 1/2 cup wheat germ. If you have a bosch or kitchen-aid, you can just put the ingredients in there and mix with the dough hook.

Combine the following ingredients:

1/2 cup BUTTER

1/4 cup white corn syrup

2/3 cup brown sugar

Boil until completely dissolved and then add a 16 oz package of marshmellows and dissolve.

Combine with the oat mixture and mix with your dough hook.

After you have completed the above step, add your favorites:

1) Craisins and slivered almonds

2) Peanuts and raisins, or Peanut butter chips

3) Coconut, dried cherries, and Pecans

4) M & M's

5) Trail Mix

6) Make up your own favorite

Spread in a large jelly roll pan that has been sprayed with non-stick oil. Press down firmly with the back of a buttered spoon. Let cool. Slice into desired slices and freeze in foil, plastic wrap or individual baggies.

Since my son has Tourette's syndrome and several in our family are sensitive to many of the chemicals that are found in foods, we follow the Feingold diet at our house. We can't use anything that has artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives. We also don't consume High-fructose corn syrup and we try to avoid corn syrup. So I use Elyon Marshmellows that don't contain dye and Sun chips which are colored with natural food dyes. I also use Erewhon brown rice krispies because they don't contain the preservative BHT. I also make my own version of corn syrup.

Simple Syrup

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp. white vinegar

1 cup water

1/4 tsp salt

Boil all the ingredients together for 5-10 minutes and store in the refridge in a glass jar.

Baby Step #2

One of the other goals that I wanted to accomplish before my baby arrives is to finish 2 baby blankets for my new baby. I can now check it off my list. Kimball's Grandma used to crochet the edges of flannel blankets for each of my new babies. They have become some of my children's favorite blankets. They are just the right thickness and so soft & cuddly. I never took the time to have her teach me how to crochet. As she was declining in health, I realized that she wouldn't always be around to crochet blankets for the remainder of my children. By the time I thought to ask her to teach me, her hands were too feeble. So, I taught myself with the help of a little crochet book how to crochet the edge of a blanket. Although I am not very good at it and I only know a few simple designs, I can at least carry on the tradition and have some special blankets for the remainder of my children. I make them in memory of her.

This is one of my favorite pictures of her.

These are the two blankets that I made for our new baby.

New Puppy

When Sarah & Heather were little we bought two German short hair pointer puppies. They were full of energy and the girls loved them. They were great family pets because they were good with children. We recently had to put our last dog to sleep. We have been without a dog for several months. Yesterday we went to the pound to look. There were several adorable puppies to choose from. We brought home this one. He is an English pointer. We know that he will have boundless energy but the kids are enjoying every minute with him. (Some of my children have boundless energy.) Hopefully our yard will survive his puppyhood.

Baby step # 1

With only 8 weeks left before the newest member of our family arrives, I have been busy trying to accomplish some of my "baby step" goals. I always feel as though my life will be coming to a stand-still and so I try to get things done that are important so that I can slow down and focus on my baby when she arrives. So here is my first baby step: To finish Eli's eye-spy quilt. Eli has been so excited for me to finish his quilt. He has been very patient. The back is made of Wall-e fleece and the front is made of various pieces of material that reflect things that Eli likes, such as Thomas the tank & Mickey mouse.

Marching Band

Sarah started playing the alto sax in 6th grade. When she moved to the junior high, she quit playing partly because she didn't like the teacher. Last year, a friend of hers convinced her to pick her sax back up and start playing. She worked hard over the summer and joined the marching band for her Senior year. She has made a lot of friendships and she loves playing at the games and hanging out with her fellow band-mates. It has been a great experience for her. Sometimes when your parent's tell you not to quit because you will miss out on alot of fun...they are right!

Her high school's marching band is quite small because they have lost many students since their high school has been split twice because of the 2 new high schools that have been built in the last 2 years.

Sarah in the middle, playing her sax.


Sarah is in the second row marching onto the field.

Eli's 4th Birthday

While we were camping we celebrated Eli's 4th birthday. We went to a local bakery and they made a Mickey Mouse cake for him.

Eli told us that when he turned four, he would "use the potty and eat meat." Well, he is now potty-trained. As for the meat, he is now informing us that he will try meat when he is five. Eli is a very picky eater and will not even try a taste of any meat because he thinks he won't like it.

Cannon Beach cont.

A few more pictures at the beach. It was a cold and windy day. I only wish the weather was a little warmer so that we could have stayed and played longer.

Heather & Collin found a little trickle of warm water to play in.

Angelina all smiles!

Sarah, Angelina, & myself getting a little wet in front of Haystack Rock.


Joe had fun playing in the waves. Each time a wave rolled in, you didn't know just how far it would wash ashore. It was too hard to predict. So Joe loved seeing just how wet he could get.

Cannon Beach

We could walk to this beach from our RV park. The day that we went was cold and windy, but the kids had fun anyway. It was a beautiful spot and Haystack Rock can be seen in the background of some of the pictures.

Nolan, Joe, & Collin.

Joe running along the beach.

Eli is enjoying the feel of the sand between his toes.

Kimball & Angelina.

Seaside Beach cont.

While in Seaside we visited a little aquarium right near the beach. It wasn't very big, but the kids enjoyed it. They had a table set up that was filled with water and the kids could touch living starfish and other sea life. They also had a tank that had an octopus it in. Eli was fascinated by it as it swam up close to the glass window. I wish I could have gotten a picture of the octopus, but it wasn't light enough. I also couldn't get any good pictures of the kids feeding the seals.

Eli finally brave enough to touch a starfish...but nothing else.


Collin, Heather, and Joe takes turns touching the starfish.



After stopping for ice cream, Joe and Eli ride the carousel.

Hitting the beach

Our first full day in Oregon we went to Seaside to walk along the beach. Seaside seemed like a really popular tourist spot with hotels lining the beaches, narrow streets, and lots of little shops. The beach was quite crowded and so we decided to visit a different beach on a day that we were prepared to play and get wet. We ate lunch at a nice restaurant and spent the afternoon just looking around. We visited a small aquarium where the children could feed fish to the seals. They were quite entertaining to watch as they slapped the blubber on their belly to get your attention to throw them your fish. They were very vocal and made some funny sounds. I will post some of our aquarium pictures another day.

My Mom & Dad.

Our family.

My brother Adam and his family.


My brother Lyle and his family.

Simple Pleasures

The kids loved riding their bikes around the campground. We lucked out and had a quiet spot in the RV park for the kids to ride their bikes. Other visitors to the park drove very slowly and were careful of the children that might be playing in the street. The kids, and even the adults, had fun riding their bikes down the grassy hill that was across from our RV site. It was always a disappointment when someone pulled their trailer into that RV pad. However, whenever they left, our kids raced over there to ride down the hill.

Eli braving the hill on his bike with training wheels, while Kimball waits to catch him if his bike tips over.

Joe takes a turn!

Here comes Nolan!

Adam racing down the hill on his cool Walmart "cruiser".

Family Reunion at Cannon Beach in Oregon

For the next while I am going to post pictures of our family RV trip to Cannon Beach on the Oregon coast. I am so far behind on my scrapbooking that I am going to add plenty of detail so that I can scrap these pictures at a later date.

A few years back my family decided to make time for a yearly summer RV reunion trip. This year my brother's wife Brandi chose the destination. The drive out along the Columbia river was something I will never forget. It was beautiful. The mountains were dotted with giant wind turbines to produce green energy and home to many large birds. The river was full of people enjoying various types of recreation such as windsurfing, boating, and water skiing. Their were also many barges carrying various cargo up and down the river. We also passed by several large dams. The other detail that stood out when we arrived in Oregon, is that gas station attendants have to pump your gas. My Dad said that it was a law there. It was nice to not have to pump our own gas and I assume it provides jobs for many people. It was weird to come home and not have someone pump my gas.

Our campsite was beautiful. We couldn't have asked for a better location. The first thing that my children noticed when we arrived, was that we were the biggest family in the smallest trailer!

My parent's fifth wheel. Unfortunately they had to stop to fix a blow-out on the way. Their fifth wheel received some damage.

Adam, Brandi, and their three boys rented this large rig for the trip since they don't own an RV yet.

Lyle, Lisa, and their son Nick rented this big rig as well.

Our Home Sweet Home for the next week with our FIVE kids! We have three pop out tents. Sarah & Heather share one tent, Joe & Eli share another, and Kimball and I have the tent in front. Angelina slept in a portable crib in the center of the trailer.

Children's parade

Every year in July our city puts on a children's parade. Usually I try to avoid parades since I have attended one too many and tired of them. However, this year I couldn't escape it since Joe and Eli were invited to be on a float and they couldn't wait to participate.

Angelina waiting for the parade to start.

Joe dressed as someone that he wants to be when he grows up. He walked behind the float.

Eli got to ride on the float. The girls were dressed as Cinderella and the boys dressed as the mice.