Whatchaupto?

ok, so next time I update I'll remember that the pictures download in opposite order than the way I selected them...

So, this is me eating, no, sucking the guts out of the crawdad body cavity as I crush the shell. My cousin Mark holds a cookout every other week-ish out on the family farm. Friends, neighbors, everyone comes out and brings whatever they wanna cook. There are a lot of dutch ovens going and it's always REALLY good food. I had some yummy jumbalaya and chocolate dutch oven cake to truly die for with swirls of fudge and nuts and mmmmm. He's making the place look really welcoming. He just laid some sod with more to come and he's built picnic tables and benches. But I haven't seen any port-a-potties out there.

This picture is not my "mmmmm" face. It is more of a "hold on to your cookies sister" look.

lovely, don't you think?
here's luke tasting the crawdad meat after some coaxing from Phillip, see below.

Luke turned 8 on June 19th and we had a little party for him. He chose cherry pie for dessert but I added some peaches with his consent to make the expensive canned cherries stretch.

I am so proud of this little guy. He's a good boy with a good heart and is a loyal friend. He will be baptized in 2 weeks and he's super excited about that. So are all of us. Pictures to come in a couple weeks.That's the scoop for now. We miss James like mad but he get's to come home to perform the baptsimal ordinance and spend about 52 hours with us over the 4th of July weekend. We are excited to find out that lots of family will be traveling to support Luke and enjoy time together.

Later!

-Martha Jane

New Adventures

So our family has moved from Provo, UT and is now in Boise, ID just miles from where I grew up and attended Middle and High School and 120 steps from my parent's door. We live just across the street. We're having lots of fun with family and are eating up every moment together before James leaves to go to South Carolina on Saturday, June 5th (Lindy's 3rd Birthday).

Luke will be baptized on July 3rd with or without his dad present. We are hoping James will be allowed to take a day or two of leave to perform the ordinance, but Luke wants to be baptized as soon as he can and doesn't want to wait until September when James graduates from his Army training. We, as his parents, support his choice and join in his excitement to follow the Savior's example of baptism. Our prayer is that James be will able to come home to share this very special time.

We recently traveled up to McCall Idaho and stayed at a condo. It was fun to spend time as a family and play in the pool.

This is a picture of James' Graduation Day. This is a pretty momentous . . . moment. Here James is with his 3 moms. They are each amazing women and I am so grateful for each of my Mothers-in-Law. May I repeat . . . I am so grateful for each of them. I am so blessed to know so many people who love James and in turn, me.

This picture was taken just after the Race for the Cure in Boise the day before Mother's Day 2010. I got the best time of my life. 3 miles in 23:50. My socks were given to me by my sister, Sara, they say "Survivor".

Our family went for a walk last night at Camel's Back Park in Boise. It was after a soft rain that made the air smell fresh, the dust stay low, and the kids not need to pack water for the trek.

Here are a couple of pictures of Phillip and Luke . . . at one with . . . nature.

Thanks for checking in. I will be updating this blog every other month or so at least because my friend Mary W. committed me to. I love you all. -MJ

January and February 2010

Wow, it's been a while. We are nearing the end of our Provo adventure and are about to move onto new things. At the end of April we will be moving to Boise. After a month James will leave me in the company of a lot of family while he goes to Chaplain Basic in South Carolina for a few months. When he graduates from CHBOLC he will drive to El Paso and the kids and I will fly there and we will start our new life stationed at Ft. Bliss.

The kids and I took a trip to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake a couple weeks ago. Lindy loved it. Eli stayed home with James and it was a good thing he did. It was cold and would have been quite miserable for him.

On Valentine's weekend we hosted a couple's dinner for the other Chaplain Candidates that are in James' BYU program. We had a lot of fun. Hopefully the guests did too. We all had to dress as couples. One couple came dressed as Star Trek characters. Another couple wore matching stickers on their shirts. James and I wore scout shirts.

James has been plugging away at school and I have been gaining a greater and greater love for homeschooling my kiddos. It has not been easy. There have been times when I thought "Gosh, it would be a lot easier to just send them to school!" But the thought of going back to that life just gives me a headache. After fumbling for 6ish months to find the best way for homeschooling to work for our family we have settled into a pretty good rhythm. I know what I'll do different when the kids finish this curriculum that I have laid out for this year, and I know what I'll do the same. The trick is finding the resources that fit best. There are a TON of resources out there and it is quite a task to sort and sift. I figure by the time I've been at this for a decade or so - I'll be a pro. Maybe. I'm sure I'll continue learning and improving all along the way in this, just like every other facet of life.

My Little Family . . .

Lindy and Martha at the BYU Basketball game.

It's a Small World. Summer 2009.

Elijah, Just over a week old. December 2008

James and I waiting for General Conference to start. October 2009

On Phillip's 8th Birthday Martha took him on a date to the temple. Sept. 2008. James had some school commitment to attend, was so sad he could not be there.

Cute Little Miss Lindy, aka "Lindy Bug"

This is Elijah and Lindy poolside eating peas for a snack.

This is a picture of Phillip (left) and Luke (right) at the Veteran's Memorial Pool in Provo, Summer 2009

This is Elijah, he got ahold of an open bubble bottle and spilled it all over himself and then crawled around in it.

Phillip and Luke at a BYU Basketball game. Fall 2009

Luke's Orange Belt Testing

(above)

Luke's One Steps

Luke's new belt

Another One-Step

Adventures at Disneyland

While in Idaho for a little family reunion we all went swimming. Look, a 3 generation picture.

My Attempt at photography. 

I opened up this corn and was completely enchanted by the little baby corn tucked in so snuggly growing inside.

So . . . it could be James' great-great-grandfather, but it's not.

The Mormon Battalion adventure started today as James joined in as an 'extra' for a film being made for the MB Visitors Center in San Diego.

And - If you're watching the Spanish Broadcast of General Conference in October - you might catch a glimpse of James in a movie between sessions (don't know which day) introducing the LDS version of the Spanish Bible. He stood in as a model for the apostle of Jesus Christ, Matthew.