THE WHITTLE FAMILY 2012

Winterfest

2012-01-25T18:50:00.001-08:00

It finally snowed. Just in time for Winterfest.

Randy played broomball on the Buynak's team. They got 3rd place.

Amanda, and friends, were in charge of the Frostbite Run for their Senior Projects. It is a 5k run. There were about 300 runners. They gave prizes by age groups and trophies to the top male and female runners.

The starting line.

Brenda and friend not only were in the Frostbite but did some advertising for the School Levy too.

More broomball. Winterfest also had a bonfire (everyone donated their christmas trees) and fireworks at night. I forgot to take my camera.

Let it Snow?

2012-01-15T18:37:00.000-08:00

We had enough snow for a snowman. However, this has been a
snow less winter so far. I took a walk to the store
and snapped a few shots.

Quelf

2011-12-26T16:36:00.000-08:00


We had so much fun playing this game on Christmas Day.

Christmas

2011-12-26T16:17:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone.

Todd's Birthday

2011-12-26T15:45:00.000-08:00

14 years old

Kevin's Birthday

2011-12-26T15:42:00.000-08:00


16 with attitude

Happy Birthday Kevin

Stag Football

2011-12-07T09:58:00.000-08:00

Kevin played for the JV team this year. He is #16.

Cross-Country

2011-12-07T09:49:00.000-08:00

Amanda started running in 6th grade. She ran 3 years at Middle School and all 4 years in High School. She competed at State all 4 years of High School.

State Championships - 12th grade

Each year the team makes t-shirts to wear at State. Amanda and Jessica added something to the back of theirs this year.

Brenda's Birthday

2011-11-26T18:09:00.000-08:00

Brenda gets her braces off.  Yea!  Now time for popcorn and anything with caramel.  It's been a long time.

No more toys for Brenda.  Time to move on to big girl presents.  These are the speakers for her mp3 player.

12 years old.  The day after her birthday she got to go to her very first EFY.  She had a great time.

Fenceless

2011-09-10T10:08:00.000-07:00

The fence served its purpose. The yard looks so much better with it gone.

Senior Pictures

2011-09-10T10:03:00.000-07:00

A sampling of some of Amanda's senior pictures. We're getting more done. She wants some with her hair down.

Fun at Silverwood

2011-09-06T11:55:00.000-07:00

Jason's first roller coaster ride.

Eric and Todd do Panic Plunge for the first, and probably, last time.

Spokane Indians

2011-09-06T10:46:00.000-07:00

Brenda enjoying an ice cream sandwich - it was Yokes dollar night.

New Car

2011-09-06T10:36:00.000-07:00

We purchased a car so that the kids would have something to drive. They have now been introduced to manual everything. It was great timing, both of them are working now.

I Love Nature

2011-07-24T00:10:00.000-07:00

One of the little quirks my mother gave me was this insatiable desire to take pictures of flowers. So here are the pictures of flowers that I found on our travels.

At the Lodge

Rest stop in Idaho

This one got some "Ah Mom"s. We had to stop for construction work and it was just sitting there on the side of the road so I opened the door and took a picture!

Zion's

Pink Coral Dunes

Zion's

Settler's Day

2011-07-23T16:47:00.000-07:00

Deer Park had their settler's day parade and fun at the park today. Jeff helped man the school board booth after the parade.

Zions National Monument

2011-07-23T16:42:00.000-07:00

As part of the family reunion we went to Zions National Park.

Weeping Rock

The squirrels were not afraid of anyone.

The hike in the Narrows consisted of a lot of walking through the Virgin river.

It was very difficult to navigate through the river rocks. Jeff, Kevin, Todd and I turned back. Eric and Amanda went ahead with some of Jeff's siblings. They didn't get back until 3 hours after we did. I'm hoping to get some pictures of the kids from Ryan.

The water was very, very cold. This was the deepest part of the river but it is also why I didn't let Jason and Brenda take the hike.

Whittle Family Reunion

2011-07-23T16:06:00.000-07:00

Todd and Brenda rode down to the reunion with Grandpa and Grandpa Whittle. They left 3 days before we did.

View of the Idaho Falls Temple from our hotel room.

View at night.

We took a walk along the falls and had some fun.

Add caption

We went to the Spoken Word on Sunday. It was fantastic.

Touring the visitors center on Temple Square.

A life size replica of Angel Moroni.

We also visited the graves of my sister Karen and Andrew.

The Whittle clan stayed at a lodge with a lake. The kids had great fun in the lake.

Hay ride.

Fun at the Pink Coral Dunes.

Spokane Shock

2011-07-12T00:28:00.000-07:00

Jeff brought home VIP tickets to the Shock game Saturday night. It was played outside (arena football is usually indoors) for the first time ever at Joe Albi Stadium. We had a great time plus free food and drink. After the slowness of baseball I needed some high pace football. Plus, Jeff and I got to spend some time alone together.

We had some entertainment by the Seahawk's mascot, Blitz.

Spokane Shock

A field in a field. "If you build it they will come." There was a record attendance of over 16,000.

View from the VIP tent. We didn't watch the game from the tent because the crane was in the way.

Spokane Indians

2011-07-09T12:34:00.000-07:00

Jeff threw out the ceremonial pitch at the Indians game last night. Jason thought that it was pretty cool that he got to go out on the field with him. Jason had lots of fun chasing down vendors all night. I thought he was going out to get his treats until we saw him running one of them down.

With a fairly decent zoom I located Jason several sections away from us. He found the vendor with the ice cream sandwiches.

I just thought this was too funny.

Jason was totally stoked about getting to go out on the field.

4th of July

2011-07-05T01:08:00.000-07:00

Started the 4th with a flag raising ceremony (lead by Todd) and then a pancake breakfast and ended the day with the fireworks show at Deer Park.

My Apple Tree

2011-06-29T15:01:00.000-07:00

My apple tree, that has not given me anything for several years, has decided to produce blossoms this year. I wasn't sure if apples would follow but as you can see they did.

In My Little Garden

2011-06-29T14:56:00.000-07:00

The flowers in my flower garden are finally starting to bloom. I've got 12 rose bushes that are loaded with buds.

It's a slow process but I'm finally getting a fence built around my flowers. This is all I have done so far but I got to use my new drill. I found an electric drill at a yard sale for $3. Best $3 dollars I ever spent.

Jason's Birthday

2011-06-23T21:44:00.000-07:00

Today is my baby's 10th birthday. I had to take Eric to Riverside Park to pick up his hoopfest supplies so we made it an outing.

Oh, we had fun with this one. After much searching this is the cake Jason decided on for his birthday.

And it's off to Webelos on his birthday.

One of his presents was a Cheeze It basketball game.

Fun at Grandma and Grandpa's

2011-06-21T23:27:00.000-07:00

Graduate #2

2011-06-21T23:15:00.000-07:00

Another DPHS graduate. Jeff got to hand Randy his diploma also. It was amazing to have them standing next to each other and to see just how much Randy towers over his father (6'3).

St. Patricks Day

2011-03-26T01:31:00.000-07:00

I'm really enjoying my job at the preschool. For St. Patrick's day I made a pot of gold, rainbow included, and filled it full of golden coins (chocolate of course). I told them I had caught the leprechaun and he had to give me his pot of gold. Then I let them pick out a gold coin. One youngster asked me, with his eyes open wide, if it was real gold.

Olympia

2011-03-07T13:58:00.000-08:00

Jeff went to Olympia with the school board. He enjoyed the time they spent there.

Our School board: Jeff, Eric, Carrie, JoAnne and our superintendent Becky Cooke. One school board member, Lisa, didn't go.

Pine Wood Derby

2011-03-07T13:52:00.000-08:00

Jason got 2nd in every race he raced!

Randy's Birthday

2011-01-13T09:55:00.000-08:00

Once again Randy was very uncooperative about picture taking.

It's hard to believe that 18 years ago this blonde haired, blue eyed boy was just a babe in arms and now he's a senior, turning 18 and stands 6'3. Of course in this picture his resemblance to Elmo is amazing.

Bulletin Board

2011-01-07T14:12:00.001-08:00

It was Deer Park Wards turn to do the primary bulletin board and the presidency asked me to do it. Here is the finished product.

Icicles

2011-01-07T14:09:00.000-08:00

Grandpa turns 100

2011-01-02T01:46:00.000-08:00

Jeff's grandpa turned 100 on December 26th. All of the family came to wish him a happy birthday. It's amazing to think of all the things this great man has witnessed in his lifetime.

The birthday "party" was held at the retirement center where Grandpa is living. This room had many colors in it. The handsome boy is Jason.

Kevin wishing Great-grandpa (!) a happy birthday.

All of his grand-children and great-grand-children.

Grandpa's children - Jeff's father, Glenn and an adopted daughter, Margene.

Amanda sharing. Isn't that sweet.

Jeff's family.

There was a Christmas tree in the lobby as we were leaving that had this hanging from it's branches. One word can say so much.

Cold and beautiful

2011-01-02T01:24:00.000-08:00

Even though it has been extremely cold outside, the picture that nature has painted is breathtaking. The last two sunsets have been in the prettiest pale pink that I have ever seen. You contrast that with the snow and it makes a picture that you won't soon forget. The pictures I took don't even begin to do it justice.

The sun has been out for two days but the temperature has not reached above freezing. This icicle has been hanging off of this tree for two days.

2010-12-05T22:30:00.000-08:00

We've got lots of snow.

2010-12-05T22:23:00.000-08:00

Jason's cub scout den met with Deputy Morris, at the high school.

2010-12-05T22:20:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I've entered anything here. My computer crashed and I lost all of my pictures. All 6000 of them. So I'm not even going to play catch up because I'm still mad about the pictures. So I will start fresh.

2010-07-31T17:38:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to catch-up on my blog so these are not in order. The two newest additions to the family. They brought them home from the DPHS carnival.

2010-07-31T17:26:00.000-07:00

Yea, I finally got the 4th of July pictures up. We went to the DPHS football field where the Fire department put on a really good fireworks show. They have been doing it for several years.

2010-07-31T17:24:00.000-07:00

All of the pictures Jeff took with the graduates came out great. The other board members didn't always turn to the camera.

2010-07-31T17:15:00.000-07:00

I'm in the process of putting a flower garden in my backyard. It's in the early stages but these are some of the flowers I've gotten so far. It still needs alot of work including a small fence and a bench. I found the perfect bench at Costco and when I went back they were all gone. It may have to finish it next summer. This one is almost gone!!

2010-07-31T17:10:00.000-07:00

Somewhere between Amanda getting home from cross-country camp and Eric and Randy leaving for a 50 mile bike trip Amanda had her 16th birthday. She won't get her big present until the 10th of August.

Amanda prefers to have Lemonade cake instead of a traditional cake.

2010-07-31T17:07:00.000-07:00

Jason loves the attention his birthday brings. I haven't decorated a cake in a long time and enjoyed doing this one.

2010-07-31T16:50:00.000-07:00

We love to play card games at our home. Uno, Phase 10, Skipbo and here were learning Hit the Deck. It was lots of fun.

2010-07-31T16:46:00.000-07:00

Summertime fun at the pool.

2010-07-31T16:31:00.000-07:00

Some pictures I took on my outing to Manito Park.

2010-06-17T23:25:00.000-07:00

Kevin had 8th grade recognition. He was the only 8th grader who had perfect attendance for the whole year.

2010-06-17T23:09:00.000-07:00

Todd represented the country of Nepal at the World's fair.

Mt. Everest- made by Todd

This is Todd with his 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Binsfield. The 5th graders go to the Middle School to see the different countries.

Mr. Cushman, Todd's 6th grade teacher, didn't know this picture was being taken.

2010-06-17T23:01:00.000-07:00

Amanda had a great year in track. She ran the 1600 in 5:40, the 3200 in 12:55 and the 800 in 2:43. She received the most improved award.

2010-06-17T22:52:00.000-07:00

Eric receiving his certificate. The Stags didn't do so great this year but coach had alot of good things to say about Eric. There were only 2 seniors on the team and both of them played for the Stags all 4 years.

Kevin baseball season ended with a 14-2 season.

2010-06-17T22:51:00.000-07:00

Jason got Principal pride.

2010-06-17T22:47:00.000-07:00

Jeff was the designated speaker to explain to the public about the search for a new superintendent. Of course he did a great job.

2010-05-10T17:19:00.001-07:00

Amanda came home from the Newport Relays with a 1st place medal in the co-ed relay, a 2nd place ribbon in the distance medley and a 3rd place ribbon in the 1600.

2010-05-05T22:18:00.000-07:00

Today is our 21st Anniversary. WOW

2010-05-05T22:16:00.000-07:00

First flower of spring.

2010-05-05T22:07:00.000-07:00

Eric is on varsity but the team hasn't had a very good showing.

Kevin's baseball team (he made varsity this year) is 4-0.

2010-05-05T22:02:00.000-07:00

I've always said Jason was a clown. Now I have proof! He won a coloring contest and got to be a clown in the Shriner's Circus.

2010-04-08T22:03:00.000-07:00

It was a blustery day (always wanted to say that) but once you got past the wind it was beautiful.

2010-04-08T22:01:00.001-07:00

Brenda's braces. Isn't she cute.

2010-03-09T23:10:00.000-08:00

I finally got the camera, the memory card and myself all to Kevin's game at the same time. I am so proud. Kevin is enjoying playing basketball. This is the game against Riverside. They won. Kevin stole the ball when it was passed inbounds and made a lay-up.

Celebrating

2010-03-06T21:34:00.000-08:00

Brenda was in a production called "Celebrating our differences". Two of the 4th grade classes do it together. Brenda had a speaking part and she did a great job. It's on video but it's too long to put on the blog. When I figure out how to shorten it I'll put it on.

Eric's senior pictures

2010-03-06T20:51:00.000-08:00

Marlene McIntire did an awesome job on Eric's picture. These three are my favorites.

Blue and Gold

2010-02-26T12:24:00.001-08:00

Last night was our Blue and Gold Banquet. Jason is explaining a game he created for the night. Jeff and Jason decorated a cake. They brought the cake and each team (boy and father) were given 15 minutes to decorate their cake. Jason also received his Bobcat.

Success in School

2010-02-26T12:21:00.000-08:00

Kevin and Todd are doing great down at the Middle School.

2010-02-10T13:45:00.000-08:00

I got a new van. It's much nicer than the last one. I fill guilty for liking it so much and being so happy to have it.

Deer Park Winterfest

2010-01-23T15:58:00.000-08:00

Deer Park has a winter celebration called Winterfest. I'm not sure how many activities had to be cancelled becouse. . . this is last year
and this is this year. No snow. I know lots of games involved snow. Our scouts, however, got to do the flag ceremony. I don't have any pictures - didn't make it.

I did however walk down to Yokes for the Chili cookoff. We sampled the chili and voted for our favorite one. I didn't vote for this one but I had to put it on here.

I won't let you know if it is true to it's word!!!

Fun times

2010-01-23T15:55:00.001-08:00

No, it's not a cop convention. They pulled someone over and arrested him in the parking lot across the street.

Streetball

2010-01-23T15:49:00.001-08:00

Since I don't have a vehicle Charlie was nice enough to come and collect the boys stuff that they were taking on their Scout campout. It was a quiet evening with 4 boys gone. While waiting for everyone to show up they played a rousing game of street football.

OK maybe it wasn't quite so rousing.

Walking

2010-01-21T22:52:00.000-08:00

It was a nice sunny day today and since I don't have a vehicle anymore Eric, Randy, Amanda and I took a walk down to the store. It's about a 1/2 mile from the house.

Randy on the railroad tracks. The younger kids were still in school with the HS on half-day becouse of finals. It was a nice little walk.

Aftershock

2010-01-21T22:41:00.000-08:00

Well, here are the pictures of the van from my accident. We were coming home from mutual, I overcorrected, and hit the ditch.

This is not where my engine is supposed to be.

Everyone is ok. (I had everyone in the van with me) Amanda and I got banged up the most, from the airbags.

FHE

2010-01-19T12:21:00.001-08:00

I've started a new "program" for our family this year. The first week we are taking our lesson out of Preach My Gospel. Week two, one of the kids gets to give the lesson-this month was on keeping the Sabbath Day holy. Week three we read, together, a talk from the Ensign -Mom or Dad's choice and the 4th week we do a family activity. On the months with a 5th Monday we do a service project. It was Jason's turn to do the lesson this month. That morning when I sent him down to get ready for school he tried to do a belly flop on his bed but instead of landing, slid across the bed and hit his head on the wall. He sprained the muscle in his neck. He wore the neck brace for 2 days.

Jeff was supposed to do the Conference talk this monday but we switched plans and made care baskets instead. We gave one to our hometeacher who just had surgery on his back and one to both the outgoing Bishop and incoming Bishop. On Sunday they released Bishop Robinson (6+ yrs) and called Bishop Staff. Eric calls him Bishop Staff infection.

The kids giving the care package to ex-Bishop Robinson. It was a Happy Trails basket. It had trail mix cookies, pepperoni sticks, fruit roll ups, apples and trail mix in a old-fashioned lunch box type container. For the new Bishop we made a Sundae Best basket with bowls, ice cream, two ice cream toppings, nuts and cool whip. And for our home teacher a Get Well Soon basket with a soup bowl, two cans of soup, some spiced cider, a book of crossword puzzles and some candy.

Todd

2010-01-16T15:24:00.000-08:00

Todd went to the Temple for the first time yesterday. Afterwards they went to Dairy Queen for blizzards.

Happy Birthday Randy

2010-01-16T15:10:00.001-08:00

Randy turned 17 this year. It's hard to believe it has been so long. I still remember all the nurses fighting over who was going to get to wash all his blonde hair.

He is not so little now reaching 6'1 and likes to remind me how short I am. He is a junior at Deer Park High School and enjoys spending time with his friends.

Todd

2010-01-09T11:30:00.000-08:00

Todd was nominated for Student of the Month in December. He's really enjoying 6th grade.

Christmas 2009

2009-12-26T22:09:00.001-08:00

In 2008 Jeff gave me a scrollsaw for our anniversary. I finally got around to using it and made a reindeer. Not bad for my first try.I cut way back on the amount of goodie plates I did this year. We only did 12. Last year it was 21. I give them to all our neighbors and some are for Jeff to give to his home teaching families and people he works with. I also cut back on what I made leaving out my bonbons. The kids dipped pretzels in chocolate and I added rice crispy treats, fudge and pumpkin roll. Brenda wrote on the tags- she put Marry Christmas!

The rest of the family was caroling for YM/YW so Brenda and Jason helped me deliver to our neighbors.

CHRISTMAS MORNING

We kept things simple this year. Trying to teach the kids the true meaning of Christmas. We watched Joy to the World before opening presents.

Once we got through with presents Jeff made us breakfast. He always makes breakfast on Christmas, usually bisquits and gravy. This year he strayed from the traditional and made breakfast pizza.

Kevin, one of our pickiest eaters, gives it a try.And he gives it a thumbs up.

After breakfast Amanda -refusing to let anyone else help- put together the Santa's sleigh kit that Jeff brought home. After lots of hard work and this quick picture, it took them about 3 minutes to eat the whole thing.

Brenda set the table for Christmas dinner -which was at 3. I also strayed from the traditional turkey and made a ham this year.

After filling our bellies we went to Jeff's parents and the kids had fun playing dress up.

Brenda wanted her picture taken with Grandpa's armadillo that he got for Christmas. It's a life size carving.

It was a funfilled Christmas. I hope yours was as memorable.

Centerpiece

2009-12-20T21:49:00.000-08:00

Eric made this centerpiece in one of his classes at school. He did a great job.

Deer Park School Board

2009-12-20T21:33:00.001-08:00

Jeff was sworn in as an elected member of the Deer Park School on December 15. Next to him is Lisa Jordan, an re-elected member. They were sworn in by Mick Miller, Superintendant.

Jeff and Mick. He is welcoming them to the school board.

Deer Park School Board members. Jeff, Lisa Jordan, Eric Keller, Carrie Breckner, Joanne Greer.

Happy Birthday Kevin

2009-12-12T22:36:00.000-08:00

Another November birthday. Kevin turned the big 1 4 this year. I don't work at the Middle School so I couldn't annoy him for which he is very grateful.

Kevin your a joy to have in our family and a great example to your younger brothers. Thank you and we love you.

Washington Apple Cup

2009-12-12T22:32:00.000-08:00

At the Middle School they have an Apple Cup competition between the Husky and Cougar fans before the real Apple Cup is played. This year Kevin decided to show his Cougar colors. My bathtub was a nice shade of read until Kevin scrubbed it clean. Most of his friends didn't even recognize that it was him.

Happy Birthday Brenda

2009-12-12T22:05:00.000-08:00

Brenda turned 10 years old this November. She had the luck of me following her around all day taking pictures. She was glad when I ran out of battery at the dentist office. Yes, she had to go there on her birthday. Getting ready for school.

Eating breakfast with Jason.

Tetherball at recess.

Brenda hard at work in her classroom.

Time for lunch. She left right after lunch for the dentist but not before Mrs. Bantis and the lunch room sang happy birthday to her. The video is at the bottom of this blog.

Eating lunch with Janiel Beal.

Happy Birthday Brenda. We love you.

Happy Birthday Jeff

2009-12-12T22:02:00.000-08:00

Jeff experienced his 44th this year. This cake was given to him by his employees.

School Board Election

2009-11-15T23:30:00.000-08:00

Jeff was successfully elected to the Deer Park School Board with 63.06 % of the votes. Everyone I've talked with is calling it a landslide. He will be sworn in at the December School Board Meeting. In the newspaper article they mentioned that Jeff's dad had been on the School Board at Riverside.

SNOW!!!

2009-11-15T22:13:00.000-08:00

We got our first snow on Friday. Winter is here.

State Cross Country

2009-11-15T22:04:00.000-08:00

Amanda did great at State. She ran the course in 21:29- 1:02 faster than last year. The Stags got 5th place at state.

Way To Go Stags

2009-11-15T21:41:00.000-08:00

The football season is over. They lost their last season game and went to a 3 way tiebreaker. At the tiebreaker they won against Cheney twice and lost against Colville twice. It was disappointing- they lost the last game against Colville by one point- but they had a great season.

District Champions

2009-11-04T14:04:00.000-08:00

Deer Park is District champions. Amanda, and teammates, were so excited. They will be running state this weekend. The varsity team got new uniforms. They look really nice.

From an earlier race. Once of the para's at the school sent me this picture since all mine got erased.

Robinson Crusoe

2009-10-24T23:22:00.000-07:00

Missoula Children's Theatre comes to Arcadia every year and the kids put on a play for the community. They try out on Monday and perform on Saturday. Brenda and Jason both tried out and got parts in the play. They performed Robinson Crusoe. This is not the original story but was written to include as many children as they could.

Jason is the second kid in green and Brenda is in orange hair right in the middle of the picture.

Jason was a chameleon.

Brenda was a member of The Very Harry Frowny Face Tribe.

They both had a lot of fun performing.

Deer Park School Board

2009-10-24T23:13:00.000-07:00

Jeff decided he didn't have enough to do so he is running for school board. He has been very involved in the schools including the designing of the new High School, hiring of the High School principal, and of course you know all about his involvement at Arcadia. He did a great job at the political forum.

October Sports

2009-10-24T22:58:00.000-07:00

Todd decided to run cross-country this year. Cross-country is the only sport that 6th graders can compete in. He did great and placed in the top 10 in every race except one.
Kevin, on the other hand, decided to give football a try this year. He really enjoyed it. He is number 86.

Kevin is the blue Deer Park player closest to the camera. At the Medical Lake game he caught a 19 yard touchdown pass. It was the only touchdown pass of the season for his team.

Eric has gotten into several games and the team is 6-2. If they win their last two games they will make the state playoffs. Sorry no pictures, someone erased the pictures on my camera. Those pictures included Amanda's cross-country meet. Her team will most likely be running in state again this year. Amanda is 5th on the varsity team.

Reunion Picture 2009

2009-09-06T18:40:00.000-07:00

Before the game warmups. Eric is on the Varsity team this year. He is number 84. We played the Chewelah Cougars.

This was our view of the moon rising from our seats at the game.

Eric is not 1st string but still got in to play a few minutes of the game.

Final Stags 20 Chewelah 6.

Oh what a summer!

2009-09-03T21:44:00.001-07:00

My pictures are not in order but its 10:45 and I don't care. Here is the scoop on what the Whittles did this summer. This is a lovely picture of the back of Randy's ear after surgery. His eardrum was torn in the accident he had in April.

Almost didn't get this picture he saw me coming.

The surgeon put a smile face on his ear so that they were sure to do the surgery on the right ear.

This is Houdini. He was our new puppy. We got him on a Monday and he died of Parvo on Sunday. He is part lab, part hound. He was the cutest little thing.

Eric turned 18.

Todd gets up close and personal with a bee.

We went to Silverwood. This time we picked a day that was nice and sunny. Last year we were rained out.

Brenda takes her first rollercoaster ride with Amanda. They are in the very front.

We didn't get to spend much time a Boulder Beach. Somehow Jason smacked his forhead on something and split it open. We had to take him to Urgent Care. They glued it back together.

We took the train and they provided a show about halfway around. The train got robbed as part of the show. We could give money, voluntarily, that they give to a Children's wish foundation.

Jeff's family had their reunion. Jeff and I were in charge of planning it. You would not believe how time consuming that is.

Bear Lake.

The kids found a snake at Grandma Whittles. I just happened to snap a shot right as it swallowed a grasshopper. Look real close and you can see it in his mouth.

Jason got to sit in the cab of the firetruck. It was on the scavenger hunt list that we did at the reunion.

The adults went to the Temple then for Chinese food and finally to the Cold Stone for ice cream.

Activities before the reunion included the ladies, and Tyler(he wasn't allowed in the picture), going out for Chinese food.

The younger kids also got to go to the movies.

And finally the beginning of summer where I got this bright idea to do the Cherry Trot with Amanda and Kevin. It's a 3 mile race. They finished and then came back and walked the rest of the way with me.

I didn't get any pictures at the pool this summer. The kids are all old enough to go by themselves so I stayed and got things done at home. All in all it was a great summer.

Rocky

2009-07-09T00:23:00.000-07:00

I took Rocky to the vet on Tuesday becouse he's had this bum leg that was starting to swell. We figured we would have to have the leg removed. Instead we found out that he had a tumor. The tumor had completely eaten the bone in his leg and had spread to the lungs. I went and pulled the kids out of summer school and they came and said goodbye to Rocky. Randy and I stayed in the room while they put him to sleep.

He was a great dog and we will miss him alot.

4th of July/Jason's Baptism

2009-07-08T23:53:00.000-07:00

This was a very full day. We started the day at the ward pancake feed. They had the flag ceremony and after breakfast lowered the flag and retired it and then raised the new flag.

Retiring the flag.

JASON'S BAPTISM

Another milestone. Jason was baptized today.

When Jeff confirmed him on Sunday he was given an incredible blessing. There is something really special about this boy.
After his baptism we had a Bar-B-Que. Grandpa and Grandma Whittle came. It was such a nice evening we pulled all the chairs outside and enjoyed the summer evening.

They moved the fireworks show from the Park to the High School. From the time we got home (around 7) and for about 2 hours there was a steady stream of cars and people going by the house. The football field is just a hop and a skip from the house.

Brenda was sick all day and spent all her time laying down.

When it got dark enough I took the kids (except Brenda - Jeff stayed home with her.) and we walked down and enjoyed the fireworks. Jeff said they could see some of it from the house.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY

Court of Honor

2009-07-08T23:46:00.000-07:00

Kevin lead the flag ceremony.

Kevin got his First Class Rank.

Randy got his Second Class Rank and his First Class Rank.

Todd got his Scout Rank.

Kevin leading the pack in the scout oath.

Jason turns 8!

2009-07-08T23:37:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's hard to believe that my baby is eight years old.

Jason, you are a great joy to our family. We love you very much. Happy Birthday.

Celebrating the Pioneers

2009-07-08T23:19:00.000-07:00

It tried to started to rain on us and the festivities broke up. As we were leaving there was a beautiful rainbow in the sky.

Look who's first in line. It's our bottomless pit.

Randy doing his best to look completely bored and uncooperative.

Todd gives Emma Schick a ride.

The other Schick and the Schurger kids occupied themselves my chasing and tackeling Kevin.

Eric gets Lucky!

2009-07-08T23:14:00.000-07:00

It's a great shot.

Flowers in Bloom

2009-07-08T23:06:00.000-07:00

Jeff gets it one last time!

2009-07-08T22:56:00.001-07:00

Upholding the tradition Jeff was pied in the face, the last day of school, at Arcadia. Jeff was transfered to one of the Yoke's in Spokane. We are staying in Deer Park and he is making the commute. When they transfered him he made sure they would let him come back for his last pieing.

You can kind of see the poster in the background. The kids signed it to give to Jeff. It say's Thank You Mr. Whittle. It's hanging on the wall in his new office. He says it covers the whole wall.

Field Day

2009-07-08T22:47:00.001-07:00

Our last field day at Deer Park Elementary School. Jason will be at Arcadia next year. Showing his hand at golfing.

His team won the stack off.