Finally a Word about Gatlinburg (it even rhymes!)

We had a great time at our big family reunion to Gatlinburg! I can't believe I am just barely getting to report about it since we have been home for nearly 3 weeks, but better late than never! We drove and I have to say the drive was pretty fun. I always enjoy talking with Don, he is a great conversationalist and 15+ hours gave us lots of time for talking! The kids enjoyed movie after movie after movie! They really did great, no tears, not even from Camille! Erick had to stop frequently for potty breaks, the kid is a leaky faucet! This was at a random school we stopped to have lunch at and there were no bathrooms, seriously, he goes every half hour.



We arrived in Gatlinburg and had a happy reunion with my brothers and sisters and parents and all the children! I hadn't met sweet little Claire or Lucas yet and they are both already 1 yr old! It is so tough to live far away from each other!

Here is a pic with Grandma and Grandpa and all the grandkids. I love how happy all the kiddos are in the picture!



I just want to briefly write about each persons' favorite part of the reunion.

Emma: She absolutely loved having a room with her aunt Jan! They had their own tv and own beds and they could shut the door. She is a tv junkie anyway. We are big on limiting tv time, but on vacation we relaxed it a little. Whenever I needed Emma I always knew where to find her. It was interesting to watch Em this year because she and Ben have always been so close to cousin Evan. Well this year, Ben and Evan were together all the time and so Emma was kind of left the odd "girl" out. This didn't make her sad, Emma is really happy go lucky and a self entertainer so she was fine. She played with the older kids and hung out with the grown ups a little. She had fun. So her favorite even was the tv watching in her and Jan's room and some of her other favorites were the indoor water park, she loved the slide and the lazy river. She also enjoyed Dollywood!



Ben: Ben's favorite thing was also the water park and Dollywood. However, I know his favorite thing was hanging out with Evan.



Ben and Emma and I enjoyed ice skating too! I was real proud of the kids because they did not like it at first and wanted to quit but they stuck with it and by the end were having fun and could even let go of the bar a little bit and really skate. Evan joined us too and did a great job.



Cami really wanted to come and ice skate too, thanks Jan for holding her back!



Erick: He loved the "hotel" we stayed at. It was a cabin looking condominium type thing and he still asks everyday when we are going to go back to the "red house" and see Grandma and Grandpa. There were a few tunnel that we had to go in to get to the towns close by and Erick absolutely loved going through the tunnels. He talks about those everyday too and the shark and the dragon that were in front of the mini golf courses. I enjoyed seeing him and Grandpa sing songs together. They had so much fun.





Camille: She just loved being up and going all the time and keeping up with everyone. She really liked the easter egg hunt Grandma did for the kids. Grandma misses easter egg hunts each year since none of her grand kids live by her, so she did her own easter egg hunt in June. It was great.





Don and I: We LOVED Dollywood. We wished we could have gone for a day without the kids just to do our own rides! Don is NOT an amusement park kind of guy or so I thought, so it really surprised me that he liked this so much! Watch out 6 Flags! We also of course enjoyed watching our kids have fun with their cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents! The memories made from this trip are priceless! We loved the talent show, attending church with the entire family, family dinners, settlers, I loved watching So You Think You Can Dance with Jan and Mindy and Mom (Linda, where were you?). We loved the surprise birthday party (Wizard of Oz) that we threw for Mom! Way to go Jessen! I also loved the girls night out to Gatlinburg on the town, that was fun! Thanks everyone for the great times, can't wait until next year!

A few last pictures.

Mullet Pigtails

Yesterday we had a lazy saturday, it was great to stay in our pjs all day and not worry about a thing! That doesn't happen very often. Anyways, Don made a comment as I finally got around to doing the kids' hair that he couldn't wait to see Miss Camille in pig tails. So I tried. They are mullet tails but they are pretty cute on her anyway. I am not even sure if that is how you spell mullet? Anyway, here is the cute little piggy.





and one more!



I am sure this is the beginning of many "hair dos" for Cami! Lots of fun times to come! A side-note about Cami. She is a little diva. She is hot and cold, one moment totally content and happy and the next, screaming at the top of her lungs. In fact she pretty much screams all the time, when she is happy and excited or mad- and it isn't just a little dainty scream it is ear splitting! She wants to be where the action is and loves to be the center of attention. Boy, do we have our hands full!

September 1995 - Mountains Above Cubulco

I started a little ambitious project a while ago. The goal is to scan almost all of my pictures I took while in Guatemala on my mission. I'm also trying to type my mission journals so that they are "backed up" The third phase is to blog my mission experiences and then have it published into a hard-bound book for posterity's sake. The project might take some time, but I think it's worthwhile.

While I was scanning some pictures today, I came across this one.

This is a shot I took while on a hike in Cubulco, Guatemala. It was my second area. (You really need to click on it to enjoy the enlarged version)

I really like this picture. It captures pretty much everything about Guatemala ... the Maya, the mountains, the fauna, the dogs, the kids, the farmers and the ruggedness of that country.

Ben's Lawyer

A modified verion of today's F-Minus strip.

Trip to Gatlinburg TN Slide Show

Here is the slide show of most of our pictures from the trip. We'll have a report up later.

A Very Long Post

Summer has arrived. The weather has been summerish for quite some time, it being 90+ for about 3 weeks now! The summer I am talking about is the one when the kids are home from school and saying "I'm bored!" Before, we get full blown into summer tho, I need to document a few end of year things.

First, Ben and Emma's soccer ended again. This time they got really huge trophies! They were so excited. Unfortunately we didn't get any pics of Emma's party, but it was a very fun swim party and bbq at one of the girl's houses. Emma's award was "most improved" she really is improving and loves soccer! I do have pics of Ben and his team. Marco, the coach, just loves Ben and he had a great year.





It will be nice to have a soccer break, but we will be back in August getting ready for the next season.

The primary had a temple trip activity. It was really fun, they went in the lobby and the temple president came out and spoke to them for a bit and the kids sang a few primary songs. They were so reverent and sweet, it was neat to see that. We took our neighbor Kassi with us and I think she liked it.





A quick report on Emma's Book of Mormon progress. She is on page 185 now and buzzing along nicely. We think it will be easier now that school is out to stay more on the ball with it. She is caught up tho. She doesn't LOVE scripture time, but she likes it and I think it will be a neat thing for her to accomplish. I love this pic of her, she is so beautiful.



Here are the two tow heads on the temple grounds. They were not the most reverent but they had fun.





Cami was so funny, some of the kids were laying down on the grass while listening to some "temple facts" and so Cami tried it. She is quite tentative feeling the grass on her back and neck.




Here is one more of Emma and Ben



This is a random picture of Cami sleeping with Don. She usually only will ever fall asleep in her crib, so it was so cute to come home and find them like this. There is nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby!



The last pictures are of Ben's last day in Kindergarten and his graduation and awards assembly. We are also very proud of Emma and her accomplishments in 2nd grade, but there was no awards for 2nd grade (sorry Emma), and therefore, no pictures! Warning: I am going to be bragging big time about Ben, so get ready! First let me preface this by saying that out of all my children, Ben and I butt heads the most, I think he feels safe and loved at home and so is not always on his best behavior (that is putting it lightly).

The graduation was so fun. The kids all walked accross the stage and got their "diplomas" and shook hands with their teachers and the principal. It was fun to see them all dressed in their best. Lots of parents brought boquets of flowers and baloons (we didn't), but it was fun to see that. After all the kids had gotten their diplomas, they sang two songs that were adorable. I think Don will be putting a video up soon. In the meantime here is a picture.



This is him with Mrs. Warner who has been a wonderful teacher and friend this year. We are thankful for her, I don't know how those kindergarten teachers do it!



Ok, now the bragging. We were sitting by the parents of one of the girls in Ben's class whom we have never met before, altho I know their daughter from the class. Anyways, the father asked if I was Ben's mother and went on to tell me that at the beginning of the year, he brought his daughter to class for the first few days. He said that he looked and kind of observed all the kids in the class. He told me that he could tell right off that Ben was a good boy. He told his daughter to make friends with Ben and to do what he does and she would be just fine. Well, if that isn't a compliment I don't know what is. How much does a mother love to hear that about her child whom she struggles with at home? Ya, it was nice to hear.

Each of the kids receoved an award from Mrs. Warner. Some got "most improved reader" things like that. Ben's award was neat, the teacher said something like this. "Ben has a gift and that is that he is a very encouraging person and always has a kind and uplifting word to say to others, he cheers everyone on." I thought that was a really neat award.



Since January, the kids have been documenting the books the have read with their parents at home. They would get little prizes if they reached a certain number. Mrs. Warner gave certificates to those who had read 50, then 100 and so on. Ben and 3 others won the highest prize of over 220 books read since January. He gets to have an ice cream date with Mrs. Warner over the summer! Here is a picture when he was told about the ice cream date. He couldn't believe it!



Mrs. Warner then announced that in every class, 3 children are chosen to receive the best behavior award. You can imagine my surprise and utter shock when Ben's name was called! WOW! Don and I looked at each other like "holy cow, is she serious? Ben Putnam?" Of course, the other two are girls, go figure!



It was a very neat day. Both Don and I were so impressed with Ben and happy that he had made good choices at school. We hope those choices will be consistent at home as well (uh huh?) Hopefully we will all make it through the summer. Good job Ben. We love you!