Mom's got the POWER...

at least according to Porter!
Sunday he was talking to our good friends, the Cains, at church. We are going to the dunes with them and our other good friends, the Grahams, the week before Christmas. Becky told Porter, "I hope it stays nice and warm and sunny and beautiful until we go to the dunes, and then when we get back, I hope it snows and snows and snows and it just keeps snowing until we get a foot of snow!" Porter looked back at Becky and with a very serious face replied, "Well, you'll have to talk to my mom about that!"

Counting Blessings

Count your many blessings.... Name them one by one.... Count your many blessings see what God hath done! Most of all, I am thankful that there is a GOD. I am thankful that He LovES me and that He hEaRS and answers my pRayERs. I am thankful he provided a SAVIOR for me. I am thankful I have His WORD available to me in the Bible and the Book of Mormon. I am thankful that He has provided a ProPhET for this day and age to help us and teach us. My wonderful husband Andy, who is so great at so many things. I am thankful you use your talents to bless our family. Thank you for loving me. Our amazing children! Wynchester Dakota, what a focused young woman you are. You are so good at keeping your sights set on what you really want. I am so very thankful you were able to be HOME for Thanksgiving. Quaelii Rue, you are so sincere and compassionate. I am thankful you are still in high school and enjoying your experiences. Jaeci LaWren, I am so grateful you are so straight forward and fun loving. You bring a lot of energy into our home. Tallin Andrew, your eyes speak so loudly. I am very thankful you are the Best Big Brother! Porter Thomas, you have about as much determination as I have ever seen in a person. I am thankful you love to help me and dad so much. Paden Carl, I am so thankful for your genuine love and excitement for life. You are a true joy! I am thankful my Maternal Grandparents are still with us. Nana, and Bigdad , you are the best! My life wouldn't be anything like it is had I not been around you so much in my youth. Thanks! My dear mother, Pat Wood! You are an inspiration to me. I am honored to be your daughter. And I can hardly wait to see your dreams come true! My dad, Thomas Henry Richards and my Grandma Syl (Johnson), I am grateful I had the time with them that I did and that they are looking down on me and my family. My schweet sisters! Jacquie, I am thankful you are so good at expressing gratitude -- I love the notes you send me and your thoughtfulness. (I would do well to follow your example.) I am so grateful for you and your family! Tanya, I am so thankful you got married and had daughters before me so I could learn from your amazingly organized experiences :0)... ie: dating, graduation, weddings, and all those other things! You are a great mom! I love you and your family. It sure is growing fast! :0) Shawna Lynn, I am so thankful for your laughter and happiness and friendliness. You are so fun to be around. Pam, Janet, ReNae, LeeAnn, Annette, Dorothy, Amanda and Susan, I couldn't have picked better sisters-in-law if I had picked each of you myself!!! My awesome brothers in law -- Eric, Greg, Kenny, Dorel, Roy, Clarence, Kayle, Rex, Larry, and Ross! You make the best brothers! My Whetten in-laws. Carl & Viva, you strive to do what is right and help us to do the same. Thank you! You are so amazing with all the things you are involved in. Keep it up! All my Aunties & Uncles and my crazy cousins and nieces and nephews -- what would life be like without you!! I am so thankful for each of you. My GREAT friends!!! You all know who you are. Each of you is so special to me. I am so thankful I have a warm home, food to eat and skills to cook, clothes to wear, technology to use to tell you all how much you mean to me. I am thankful my children have good friends at school and teachers that truly care. I am thankful I know how to sew, how to read, how to listen, how to make friends, how to clean, how to can, how to paint, how to scrapbook, how to type, how to care, how to serve, how to play, how to work, how to smile, how to laugh. You know, I am learning that when I take a minute to count my blessings, I really have too many blessings to name, but it is still good to sit and try. It makes me HuMBle to know that God loves me so much and has really given me a lot to be GRATEFUL for! And the best part is, He did the same for YOU!

Life is Good!

Andy and I are in Portland, Oregon. He has a conference for work here and I tagged along. FUN! We left Thursday and went up to Aberdeen, Washington and stayed with our new family, Jack & Marti Hollingsworth! They didn't know they were adopting us when we went... But as long as I feed Jack cinnamon rolls, they might keep me around! Tee!Hee! This is us at the Lake Quinault Lodge in the Quinault Rain Forest. It is so beautiful! We also went and saw the "World's Larges Spruce Tree" at 58'11" in circumference! And this amazing waterfall, which was just on the side of the road. Andy and I climbed up these rocks for a kodak moment and when we came down, our back sides were soaking wet! You could have wrung us out! It was so amazing though! I am so glad we were there. Marti and Jack really treated us like family! We were totally spoiled!

Andy got to go out on the Marisha, a dredge boat Jack & his partners built for farming the oysters. They pulled in lots of oysters that day! While they did that, Marti and I went to the beach and watched the waves. The day before, the waves were about 25-30 feet and crashed over the jetti (not sure if that is how you spell it) and washed about a foot of water down the street. Crazy! It was an awesome sight! Leave it to me, however, to provide a "ha!ha!" experience for all the locals... I was standing on the beach, fairly far back and the waves came in and one got up on the beach a little closer than I liked, so I moved back about 20-30 feet. I was taking video and waiting for the "perfect" pictures when I noticed water coming up the beach again. I could tell it was going to get close, so I began walking backwards, while continuing to video, then I was running backwards, finally I turned and ran and still got water half way up my knee! Silly Arizona girl! I just hope nobody was videoing me! Embarrassing!!

And, now we are in Portland, Andy is in class and I have been relaxing today. Tonight we are going to the World Forestry Center? I think that is what it is called. Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to go to the Portland Temple! I am so excited!

And since I haven't blogged in so long, I hope to spend some time catching up!

She's a UTE!

Holy COW! You'd think Chesea was moving for a long time or something! LOL! Actually she didn't take much at all. We took her to Salt Lake City on Wednesday and she moved into her dorm on Thursday. Thankfully they had mail-carts you could use to hall your stuff up with. They were great. Too bad I wasn't with Andy & Chesea when she crawled in the cart with the last of her stuff and rolled down the little hill to her dorm -- that would have made a great picture! Oh well!

Thankfully we have a friend, Amber, who came and stayed with the rest of our children while we were gone. The boys LOVED her! It was wonderful not to have to worry about them and how tired they were getting. With the hours we kept, they would have been WORN OUT! We were supposed to come home on Friday, but ended up staying until Sunday. So we also felt very thankful to Quaelii and Jaeci for being such GREAT big sisters! They held down the fort over the weekend!

Chesea got a big surprise when the Jones' came to her dorm to see her. We LOVE ROB, TIF, EMMA AND TATE! Thanks for your support guys! You are the best! Chesea got this cool UofU shirt and was proud to show off her new school spirit. And look at that amazing quilt behind her. She was so excited to get a quilt made by the tender hands of her Grandma Whetten.

The very best part of taking her up there was going to the Salt Lake Tempe with her on Saturday morning. We had said that was one thing we wanted to do, so we got up and did that before anything else. It was a tender moment!

I have done many hard things in my life. It was hard when I left home for college. It was difficult when I had my miscarriage. It was excruciating when I said my final earthly good-byes to my Aunt Hettie, my Dad, and my Gram. As difficult as each of those was, I do believe leaving my first born was harder than any of them. I cried for two weeks before she left. I cried when she and Matt cherished there last few days together, and then he came by at 5:30am on his way to work Wednesday to hold her once more before she was gone... I cried when she hugged Jaeci and Quaelii good-bye and wished them luck in their schooling... I cried when Tallin held her so tightly as he was leaving for school that he almost missed the bus... I cried when she hugged Paden good-bye and he lovingly said, "You're my best riding buddy!"... I cried when Porter gave her a quick hug and said, "See ya, Ches!" like she'd be back tomorrow... I cried as we headed for her dorm -- thankfully she was riding with Andy in her car and I was alone to cry as I wanted to, holding nothing back... And I cried, like a baby, when Andy and I got in our car and headed south on I-15 and she got in her car and headed north... I held my right hand up to the window in "I love you" sign language, and watched as her car disappeared. And as I sit her and tell you all of this, tears continue to stream down my cheeks. She is my little girl. I am so proud of her and I love her so much... I am blessed to be the mother of my Wynchester Dakota! My God has been merciful to me!

MY MOM ROCKS!!!

You see this amazing woman??? This is MY MOM!!

Of course, I share her with my three "other" sisters. :0)

And seriously, SHE ROCKS!!! See the barrel? Yep, it rocked but then it stayed standing! WHEW! She is 60 years old AND she had MAJOR surgery last September after a horse injury where she broke her leg, right at the top near the hip joint and could hardly walk for 2-3 months. It was the worst break the surgeon had seen in over 4 years, and here she is 10 months later ROCKING the WORLD of BARREL RACING!

I have a video of her barrel race, but I can't figure out how to post it -- yet, but I will!! (Along with my little sister's HAPPY DANCE!)

Anyhow, she won the barrel racing event at the Snowflake Rodeo on my 39th birthday! And she did it in 17.3 seconds! She was awarded this beautiful buckle, and a check for almost $500! She is totally awesome and I am so PROUD to call her MOM!

MarSHmaLLoWs gAloRE!

What is the best thing about a campfire in the forest??? Eating ROASTED Marshmallows, of course! We went out for a special Court of Honor tonight, and afterward I broke out these amazingly LARGE marshmallows and just look at the fun we had!

How EMBARRASSING!!!

This is my first and only post for June! Yikes! That is embarrassing. However, it has been a BUSY month! So, no photos tonight, just a quick update... so later I can tell the stories (maybe).

June 4 was the last day of school, and we had a GREAT party at the park! We probably had well over 100 kids there from 2 - 18 playing and having a GREAT time together! Hope you were there, and if not, well, next year!

June 5 Chesea graduated from Coconino High School. We had a GREAT party here at our home and were so honored that so many of you came to wish here well in her new life. She had a GREAT graduation.

June 8 I was EXHAUSTED! So I was taking it easy when Porter decided he wanted some cheese. He was cutting it himself. He cut cross-wise instead of downward and chopped his index finger on his left hand. He completely severed one tendon and almost severed the other. We rushed to the DR. who sent us to the ER where they stitched up his finger and told us to go see a hand surgeon. Well, Heavenly Father works GREAT miracles even before we pray for them. One of my greatest bread customers is a hand surgeon. I called him. He performed surgery Wednesday morning (June 10). It was a "perfect repair," he said. The day before his surgery I was still totally exhausted and not feeling so well. I ended up with a major sinus infection and cold. I was down for about a week.

June 11 we dashed down to Phoenix (thank Heaven's Quaelii had her permit!!) where Quaelii had a band convention for her position of Drum Major. We had a pretty good time. We were there until June 13.

June 16 Quaelii left for girls camp, and Jaeci left June 17. Andy left for Scout camp on June 17, and Chesea, Tallin, Porter, Paden and I left for Utah the same day. We all had a great time in our adventures. Chesea was able to get registered for her classes. YIPPEE! And I HAD A MARVELOUS time with my FRIENDS! I AM SO BLESSED WITH GREAT FRIENDS!!!

We all arrived home at some point on June 20 to celebrate Father's Day with Andy. I hope he had a great day. Dinner wasn't as good as it was in my head... Ah well. That's how it goes sometimes...

Tuesday & Wednesday, June 23 and 24 I had a GREAT time with 18 CUB SCOUTS at the DAY CAMP I was responsible for. It was amazing! We bowled, swam, had a tour of a restaurant, ate out, canoed, built a bridge, learned how to play marbles, BBQ'd hotdogs & hamburgers for our families and more... It was really a TREAT!

June 25 I took Quaelii so she could get her license!!! Yep! Two Whetten girls on the roads in Flagstaff now... Stay off the side-walk! :0) That night I was in charge of a Dutch Oven cooking class. It went very well. We had yummy Dutch Oven Pizza, BBQ Chicken Cordon Bleu, and 3 different kinds of Peach Cobbler! YUM!

June 26 we took our family and went canoeing on Lake Mary. We had a great time. Got sunburned. Were caught in a little rain-storm, waited it out and canoed some more. It was BEAUTIFUL!

June 27 Andy and I celebrated our 19 anniversary by helping our friends finish the trim for their home. We sealed and lacquered a TON of trim. It was amazing. We worked from about 7:30 am until about 4:30 or 5:00 pm. They were so thankful, they took us to Outback to celebrate our anniversary. Thanks guys!

And yesterday and today, the last two days of June, I have been trying to catch up. Not even close. Good thing I'll have tomorrow!

So there it is in a nutshell. Sorry it is long & boring, but putting it like this helps me understand why I haven't posted all month... :0) Jen