A struggle with sadness

So, at the beginning of the summer, we found out that my Grammie has cancer.  She went in to have fluid drained off of her lungs and they found cancer cells in the fluid.  At first they couldn't confirm what kind of cancer it was, but yesterday we found out that it is lung cancer and now it has spread to both of her lungs.  She was going through chemo treatments, but because of other health issues, she has had to stop for now.  She's been sick for a long time, but now it's so much worse.  She had breast cancer back when I was a little girl, and now she's just suffering so much. My mom is retiring early so that she can help out as much as possible.  I'm torn between wanting her to get better and wanting her to just not be hurting so much anymore.  I feel selfish when I think that I don't ever want her to die because I know she's been miserable for a long time.  She has lost tons of weight...almost 50 pounds in 2 months.  She needs to have surgery for another problem, but keeps getting it put off because she isn't strong enough for it.  I always thought that I'd lose it when my dad died.  But, surprisingly, I wasn't as devastated as I thought I would be.  I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I'll lose it when Grammie dies.  She's been such a big part of my life and such a good friend to me my whole life, I don't want to lose her.  I don't know exactly what to do to help her now either.  I don't understand why some people have to go through so much pain and heartbreak and others don't have as many issues.  I guess someday I will understand.

First day of school

School is back!  This year I have an 8th grader (Becka), a 4th grader (Jake) and a 1st grader (Rachie).  Aren't they all adorable??? 

Rachie's 6th Birthday!

Party guests (we missed Kelsie and Halle, who couldn't make it)

Pascal cupcakes

Climbing Rapunzel's "hair"

Hide and Seek with Pascal

"Painting" the tower

Rapunzel!!

I am all out of order here, but I think you'll forgive me, right?  Rachel turned 6 years old on August 29!  My Lil Punkin is getting to be so big now!  She had a Tangled (Rapunzel) birthday party.  It was a lot of fun.  I found some great ideas on the Disney website, and I think the party was a success.  We also had a small family dinner for her here with my side of the family and Grandma Ard made brownies for Rachie and Kylie at her house on our Sunday visit.  Rachie is one loved (and spoiled) little lady!!

Labor Day fun

On our way home from the beach on Labor Day, we got a call saying that Dana and Derek, and Brandon and Afton's families were up at a fun place in Hockinson called Alderbrook Park.  They invited us to join them.  So, we quickly stopped off at home to unload the car, then we were on our way.  It was fun!  There were inflatables, sprinklers, a pool, climbing structures, mini golf, paddle boats, sports of all kinds, even a dunk tank.  The drinking fountains had pink lemonade in them instead of water!  It was a fun way to enjoy the nice sunshiny day.  

Kayla found a fuzzy caterpillar

Rachie's turn to hold it

Jake on the paddleboat

Daddy and Rachie

A weekend visit

The Summers family decided to make a quick trip out here for Labor Day weekend.  We were so happy to hear that!  We visited them in July and had so much fun.  I hate that we only get to see each other every other year or so.  They came and we all went to spend the weekend at Grandma and Grandpa's beach house.  We had tons of fun shopping, going on the wave runners, playing on the beach, at the park, enjoying s'mores and just being together.  I only got one picture of Kaisley and Rachie playing at the park after church on Sunday afternoon.  We were having too much fun to remember the camera I guess!

The smoke made funny spots on my lens, but I did find this shot of us having our yummy campfire treats.  :)

Tea time!

Went into the playroom to check on the kids and their friends and this is what I saw.  :)  Hannah wants to be big like her sisters and brother!

 

Soccer kids

We are a soccer family!  I love the sport, and I want each of my kids to at least try it out.  Becka liked it, and played well for several seasons, Jake has really enjoyed it and as mentioned before, is playing on a premier team through the VUSA Timbers.  Now it's Rachel's turn.  She was a bit skeptical about it.  Actually, she told me she didn't want to play soccer because she doesn't like to get sweaty.  :)  That girl is SUCH a princess!  After we got her ball and shoes and shinguards, she decided that maybe it would be worth a try.  The first practice went ok, and she wasn't so excited about playing her first game...until she scored a goal for the first time.  Then playing soccer was AWESOME!  :)  She's a good little player, and I think there may be another future soccer star in the Ard family!  I took these pictures of her and Jake together, ready for practice.  She was so proud to be standing with Jake, ready to go and be a soccer player like he is.  :)  She loves her big brother!

We're gonna go go go go on an adventure!

At the beginning of the summer, I had each of the kids make a bucket list of things they wanted to do during summer break.  One of the things on my list was to have adventures at new places.  So, we decided to try out a new park.  We went over and got Lucia and Ava and headed out to try a new park for a picnic lunch and playtime.  It wasn't a very exciting park.  I looked online to find one that had a water feature.  Turns out this one is just a small fountain that runs a little stream alongside a sandpit play area.  But it had a nice sized field and lots of big trees provided us with shade on a hot August day.  It has a trail that we took and was very secluded, even though it is located in the middle of a neighborhood.  We had fun being goofy and just hanging out together. 

Fun with Friends

Went to the park to spend some time with Angie and her kiddos.  Becka was babysitting, so she was missing, but the rest of us enjoyed our time together!

Angie had a bag of candy leftover from a parade they went to, so she had fun sticking lollipops in Hannah's back pockets, lol!

Quick beach trip

We went to the beach with Grandma and Grandpa and Brandon and Afton's family for a quick, fun weekend.  We went to the Tillamook County Fair to see the demolition derby.  It was a lot of fun!  I hope we get to go back next year.  We also had a chance to play on the beach with our cousins.  :)  It was a fun, quick trip to the coast and the weather was perfect!

Toothless Annie

This post is actually a place holder until I get the pictures off of my phone...

AWCI

Steve and I took pictures for the American Watchmakers-Clockmakers Institute during a convention they held here in Vancouver.  Basically, we were taking pics of them pretending to work on either a watch or a clock.  The pictures were then going to be used to make a fake magazine cover using their institute's magazine.  It was a cute idea.  Each person gets to be the "cover" of a magazine. 
The kids stayed home by themselves for the two days (Thurs and Fri) and did really well.  I went home at lunchtime each day to check on them, and Hannah was not happy that I was gone so much. 

Here's what the final magazine cover might look like

Steve setting up

All ready to go!

It was a good experience and we actually got paid to do it.  I wouldn't do it again though, lol!

A vacation worth waiting for!

I have been bugging Steve for years to go back to Idaho and Utah to visit his grandparents.  We hadn't been since Rachel was almost a year old.  5 years is too long!!!  This summer we actually got to do it!  It was a lot of driving and a long time to be gone from home, but we got to visit family and make memories that will last a lifetime.

We started out late Friday afternoon.  Steve got home from work and we left to drive to Boise.  In hindsight, that wasn't a great idea, but we wanted to be in Utah by early Saturday afternoon, so we did it.  The kids did fairly well on the car ride.  Hannah finally lost it at around 10:15pm and commenced screaming for 45 minutes until she finally fell asleep.  We got to Boise and checked into our hotel at about midnight.  Hannah woke up and had a rough night of it, so Mommy got no sleep at all.  Up bright and early on Saturday morning, we got breakfast and headed for Roy to visit Grandma and Grandpa Parker.  I wish we could have gotten there earlier.  That hotel was the nicest of the three we stayed at, and it was the cheapest too!  We didn't get to enjoy it at all. 

We arrived in Roy at about 1pm and got to have a yummy lunch with Grandma and Grandpa.  It was so fun to be there with them again.  The kids love their backyard and patio.  Hannah especially loved eating watermelon and playing on the big covered patio.  She also liked eating Grandma's flowers.  Pretty red ones.  Ornery baby!  We went to the hotel for a little bit to get settled and have some rest time, then back to Grandma's house we went.  She made us more yummy food and we had lots of fun visiting with her and Grandpa.  The kids loved Grandpa's fancy red mustang.  They've seen pictures of it and heard us talk about it, so they were excited to see it in real life!  Sunday morning we got up and went to church with Grandma and Grandpa.  It was HOT!  High 90's is not anywhere close to what we are used to!  We spent Sunday afternoon with Grandma and Grandpa again, ate more of Grandma's yummy food and left at about 5:00. 

We drove to Rexburg next.  Got to the hotel just in time for bed.  I needed some medicine and some milk/snacks for the baby, so I took Jake and went to Walmart really quick to try and get it.  I forgot that it was Sunday in a mostly Mormon town!  Walmart had closed at 8:00, but luckily we ran into Albertson's and got what we needed.  I felt bad shopping on Sunday, but I had to get this stuff and there was no way for me to get it the day before and keep it fresh. 

The next few days were spent driving around Rexburg, visiting Steve's aunts, and his grandparents.  We got to spend a few hours for two of the days with his Grandma and Grandpa Ard.  We drove the kids around, showing them places we used to work at and where we lived when we were first married.  We took them to Big Judd's to eat dinner one night.  Jake loved that!  We even spent several hours looking for a ghost town to photograph, but never did find it.  We went on campus and had a blast in the BYUI bookstore.  I didn't get to be in there nearly as long as I had wanted to, but it was good cuz we ended up spending way too much money as it was, lol!  The kids loved swimming several times a day in the hotel pool, and Hannah, who before really didn't like getting in the water, now loves it and gets super happy when she sees her swimsuit!

On Wednesday morning we headed back to Boise to spend a few days with Ron and Cami.  We had lots of fun with them.  Shopping, going to Wahooz (a family fun center with go karts, laser tag, arcade games, mini golf, bumper boats, etc), swimming, etc.  The boys even got to go to some car races, which Steve LOVES!  Rachel was in heaven playing with Kaisley and Jake loved hanging out with Jaxon and Cord.  Hannah got spoiled by Auntie Cami and Uncle Ron!

We left for home on Sunday morning and arrived safely.  Whew!  It was a whirlwind of a vacation, but it was awesome!  I have too many pictures to put on here, but I will make a slide show and post it asap.  :)

Scout camp!

Jake's second year at scout camp was a blast!  He had tons of fun!  Steve got to go up and help out for two days.  I know that Jake loves that time with his dad, especially since Steve is in the bishopric, there isn't much time for him to hang out with the kids one on one.  So, here they are, my cute men, all ready for camp!

Summer has begun!

The kids were in school forever!  Well, it seemed like it anyway.  Their last day was June 22. 
I took them over to Esther Short Park on the first Monday of summer break to play in the fountain.  It wasn't super hot, but it was warm enough to splash around and enjoy ourselves.  Plus, we were the only ones there, usually when you go, it's ridiculously crowded. 

Soaking wet!

I love his face!

The spray hit her right in the face, but that didn't slow her down!

Becka trying to drown Jake

Ladybug was not a fan of cold water being sprayed on her.  She found this stone and sat on it the whole time.  Well, until she scooted herself backwards off the edge and bonked her noggin.  Mean old rock!

Melissa, Christe, Angie and I have been trying to get together monthly and work on our scrapbooks/craft projects.  We started back in April and have been rotating who's house we meet at.  July was my month, so I thought I'd ask Mom and Dad Ard if we could use their beach house for a scrapping weekend.  I was so excited when they said it was available and that we could use it!  Christe ended up not being able to come, but Melissa, Angie and I went down Thursday evening and had a blast all weekend.  I can't say that any scrapping got done, but it was nice to just hang out and relax.  I needed the break.  I brought Ladybug with me, but my mom and Steve worked it out so that the other kids were taken care of.  Thank you so much!!!! 
I ended up using my new iphone to take most of our pictures.  I haven't put them on the computer yet, so I'm sorry about only having a couple of pics to show. 

Melissa roasting starburst over our campfire.  Yummmmm!

The view from our table at Pirate's Cove.  Steve and I have always wanted to go, but it's too spendy to take the kids and we always have the kids with us at the beach.  So, Melissa and I had lunch there after Angie had to go home.  It was a nice view, but apparently I got the wrong thing to eat cuz I wasn't impressed with the food!

Hannah was "helping" me clean up before we left.

Goofy time

Costco has these giant, adorable teddy bears.  They are only 30 bucks.  If I had a place to put it, I'd totally buy one!  My mom wanted to get one for each of the grandkids for Christmas, but thankfully, she understands that we already have too much stuff in this house.  She did, however, buy one for Mia for her birthday.  Since Mia's birthday isn't until October, Mr. Teddy Bear is living upstairs in the spare bedroom.  One of the kids brought him downstairs and we all had to play with it, lol. 

Shoulder rides

Jake is usually not violent...

Poor Rach tried and tried to get him up on her shoulders, but it was just too big!  She finally settled for snuggling up in his arms. 

Finally!

She walks!  I've never had a baby take so long to walk!  Becka was 9 months old, Jake was 10 months and Rachel was 11.  Here's Hannah at 13.5 months old finally showing off her skills!

Sorry it's blurry!

Independence!

Hannah wants to feed herself, but because she still only has two little teeth, it's pretty tricky finding things she can munch on her own.  I did find out that she LOVES waffles.  So, every morning (when we actually have them), she get an "awful" (that's what Rachel used to call waffles and the name has stuck) to eat all by herself! 

Papa's Birthday party

Every year we (Mom, Jason/Cat's family and us) go to the cemetary and have a birthday party for my dad.  We have been doing it ever since he died in 2004.  The kids each write a note or draw a picture on a small piece of paper, we tie it to a helium balloon and then they all let their balloons go and "send" the notes to heaven for Papa.  Then we sing Happy Birthday and have cupcakes.  This year was extra special because we also went and visited Ita's (Cat's grandma) grave.  I know the tradition sounds corny and it technically isn't very good for the environment, but it is something we all enjoy and it is important for the kids.  Especially since only the older ones even remember/knew their Papa.  He was such an awesome guy.  I miss him every single day.

I had run back to the car for something and when I was headed back down, this made me laugh.  Steve sat Hannah off to the side on a random headstone so she wouldn't get muddy or in the way.  She looks all alone, off to the side. 

Rachel and Ava cleaning Papa's headstone

Sending their letters to Papa

We left him a cupcake too!  :)