Rest of the News

Now to catch you up on the rest of the news.

Christian got a job about a month ago. He is working at the Safeway that just opened up today in Estrella Mountain Ranch. He is enjoying it and comes home and tells me all about it. There was a preview last night that we went to (Christian worked up until the preview so I had to pick him up). It took a long time because it was jam packed with people. We shopped, had samples, and talked with Mom and Dad. It took us over two hours to finish up, but it was fun.

The same day that Christian got his job, I was asked to teach an NAU class this Spring. So I spend all of last week preparing my syllabus for Modern Language Arts Instruction. I start teaching in January. I am excited about teaching this class. Hopefully enough people sign up for it so it isn't cancelled.

This week (I'm on Fall Break) I've spent time cooking freezer meals, cleaning my house and back yard, and spending a little time relaxing. I start back at school on Monday - not sure if I'm ready to go back, but back I go.

Now you are all caught up on our news. Talk to you soon - not four months next time :)

Christian is 18

Christian has turned 18. I can't believe that he is officially an adult now. In celebration of his birthday I have posted some of my favorite pictures of him.

Christian will probably be upset with me for posting the following picture. It was in Old Tucson and he was extremely embarrassed. The older can-can lady was flirting with him and saying she was going to keep him.

I love this picture of Christian reading a comic book with his Grandpa :)

Here Christian is showing off his dirty feet. This was his first Grandfather/Son Campout.

Christian loved his Aunt Cheryl and copied her a lot. Guess it comes from living with her for so many years. This is at Cheryl's highs school graduation.

Christian would always fall asleep in the weirest places. I would put him to bed in his bed, but I always had to find him before I went to bed so I could put him back in his bed. He always went to sleep with Goofy - it was one of his favorite stuffed 'animals'.

Christian played with Cheryl's friends. In fact he thought they came to see him, not Cheryl. In fact for his 3rd birthday, all of the guest, except his cousin Hannah, were 16 and 17 year olds.

Christian still remembers Foo-Foo (Cheryl's rabbit).

I love this picture of him. I still have the outfit too :)

He loved playing in the clothes hamper :)

Here he is again - asleep under my bed. I had a hard time finding him this time as his pillow is against a bookcase and there isn't much room between it and my bed.

24th of July parade. Several us of traded off saving our spot all through the night. It was a fun day.

Great impersonation of a turkey, Christian!

Halloween costume last year. You'll have to ask him who he was - I forget :(

18th birthday!!!!!

Eagle Scout

Christian passed his Eagle Scout Board of Review a couple of weeks ago. I am so proud of him. Here are some pictures of his Eagle Scout project. His project was to place yellow circles around all the doors, put up room numbers on the playground, bus numbers by the busses, reserved parking spots, paint two playground tables, and paint two four squares. This was a couple of days of painting.

Christian had a lot of help show up - especially on the second day. Thanks to everyone for helping with his project.

The Rest of the Summer

After the Family Reunion, we spent some time relaxing at Aunt Barbara's. Barbara was gone for a while and her dog was very upset and barking. Mom was able to quiet him down. Then it was Dad's turn - no luck - kept barking. I tried - again no luck. Mom had to go outside and sit with him to keep him quiet until Barbara came back. Here are some pictures of them together. He kept scooting closer and closer to Mom - almost pushed her off the step :)

The following day we went to Yellowstone Park. It was a very long, but enjoyable day.

Then I went to spend some time with Cheryl. We went to see Eclipse, hung out, talked, and went to Lagoon. That was fun. The Gibsons convinced me to go on the roller coaster, Wicked (didn't take much convincing to be honest). It was fun. The second time my cell phone fell out of my pocket. I'm sure it smashed into a million pieces because they never found it :(

Everyone went back to the house for dinner and then Cheryl and I returned by ourselves (mostly to see if they had found my cell). No such luck, so instead Cheryl convinced me to ride all the rides I didn't want to ride. I don't know how she does it, but she did. Of course I screamed at her on a lot of them :)

Then it was back home and to work a week later. It was a fun, but short summer.

Family Reunion - Really LATE!

I know I am really late on posting this blog. I wanted to wait until I got everyone's pictures since I didn't take very many. Then when I got the pictures I was involved heavily with school and preparing for my college class (more on that later), etc. But better late than never.

Our family reunion this last July was so much fun (I do have to say so even if I was in charge). It went off much better than I thought it would. Having planned all this sight unseen of Three Peaks Lodge and not knowing the area very well, I was a little nervous about it. I had looked online extensively for activities to do. The main thing I wanted was a lodge with enough room that we wouldn't be stepping all over each other -- with lots of activities to do inside and outside. Three Peaks Lodge delivered this. So glad we got it.

Mom, Dad, Christian, and I arrived in Rigby, Idaho a couple of days before the reuion so that I could take a look around at everything I had planned - so I would know directions, etc. to all of the places. Also, I needed to get all the groceries and other things we needed. Let me tell you - that was a chore in and of itself. Try planning food for 30+ people when you are use to just 2. Not easy:) And then try 90 people for one meal on Sunday. But we did it :)

Friday - July 9th - Arrive at Three Peaks Lodge to see that it was better than I thought it would be. Tons of rooms, lots of space, ping pong, pool, shuffleboard, air hockey (without the air), rock climbing wall, slides, blocks, bikes, tennis, basketball, volleyball, softball, horseshoes, playground, hot tub, etc. Lots of activites to keep us busy (when it wasn't raining or blowing wind).
Have two hours to get everything set up before people start arriving. Our Hall of Fame with the movie rooms - do you remember which room was yours? I know quite a few kids who had fun figuring this out - even some adults too!

I loved the shirts that Cheryl designed!!!! I have people even now saying how much they like the shirt when I wear it around town.

I think my favorite part of Friday was the late night game played by Laura, Jonathan, David, Cindy, and I. Scooters are a blast :) Too bad we got a little loud and were found out by Grandma and then the teenagers. What a blast!

Saturday - the rest of the family arrived around noon and the reunion officially started - yeah!
Softball

Tag was a blast, but everyone was running around so much that no pictures were taken :(

Volleyball - the Eggs vs. the Dinosaurs

That evening we had dodgeball out on the tennis court -- with the wind blowing. My favorite part was Addie going and getting the balls from the other team to give to us. She even got some of hte other girls to help her as well :)

Late night games, talking, and sneaking out to the hot tub were also favorites.

Sunday - some of my favorites were getting tangled up in a family web...

family remix songs...Livingstons even put dance moves to theirs...

Sunday night was fun with the Back to the Future IV preview and Donald Duck cartoons before the video showing of Back to the Future - with concessions of course :)

Monday -- some of my favorites were seeing the Berry van piled with intertubes, then having a line of cars heading to the river...

tubing down the Snake River (even though my bottom kept scraping the bottom of the river)...

Tuesday -- some of my favorites were playing laser tag...

I played and played and played - got hit a lot, but my favorite game was were I was a sniper from the ramp and kept hitting people :) The first game with almost everyone playing was a lot of fun too :)

The Oscars was a blast! Mom and I had a lot of fun putting together the video - pretty sure some of those videos/snapshots were surprises for the family. Hopefully Cheryl still loves Donald Duck :))))))))

I hope everyone had as much fun as I did at the family reunion and I can't wait for the next one!

Thanks to everyone for coming and making it so special. I love you all.