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Britt and I at the wedding!

We just got home from from our trip to Idaho. We had a great time! The wedding was so sweet, I'm so glad I got to go. They're such a great example to me of being patient and waiting on the Lord. The only bummer part about the trip was that I had a horrible headache the 2 nights we stayed there, so I wasn't able to visit very much.

But anyways, on the way home we decided to drive half way home and stay somewhere for the night, because we wanted to be able to stay and visit a little after church on sunday. We met up with Sis. D and her family,so that made it alot of fun. :) It was nice taking our time to get home. I know 8 hours isn't THAT long of a drive, but it gets kinda boring with just the desert to look at.

The next day we decided to check out a few different campgrounds on our way home. Believe it or not, this was one of the campgrounds, it was 95 F outside, and there was snow on the ground. The water was even warm, it was strange. It felt great just putting your feet in the cold snow. =D Anyways, here's a few pictures from the trip...

Family Portraits

Yippeee!!!! Anne, the photographer has put up a few pictures for us to see what she's done. I'm so excited!! I can't wait to see the pictures of our WHOLE family together! :) So here's a sample of what's to come in about 1-2 weeks. ;)

http://annenunnphotography.wordpress.com/

The very first picture I look soooo short compared to all the boys!! Those are the sweet men in my life. <3

Chuck E. Cheese's

Today Jonathan and I decided to take Abigail out for the day. We were planning on going to the beach, but all sorts of things happened as we were getting ready and by that time we didn't want to go. So, instead we took her to Chuck E. Cheeses, Ben & Jerry Ice Cream, and to "Papa's"(my poppi) work. I haven't been to Chuck E. Cheese since I was 3-4!
Anyways! We had a blast! Abigail ran around wanting to get on all the games and rides. And surprisingly, it was fun for me and Jonathan too. We got to play on some of the older kid games. ;) We also got to meet Chuck E. Cheese! Abigail was scared of him, and wouldn't talk to him...I wouldn't either want to either, if I was her! =o

Anyways, not too much else to write. Later! =D

Baby-sitting rates

I got a call tonight from a lady I've never met, or worked for, that wants me to baby-sit for her sometime this week. Seems like every time I start to think work for me is starting to slow down, I get mothers calling me and asking me to baby-sit. Sometimes I've never met them and they heard about me from other mothers I've worked for and sometimes its a mother I haven't worked for in years, but it always comes at the right time when I least expect it. And sometimes before I've even went to God with my little problem.
But anyways, as I was talking to this lady, she asked what I normally charge an hour. I've been so used to baby-sitting for one lady for 2-3 years that I've forgotten what baby-sitters normally ask for and thought it'd be too much to ask this lady for for the first time. So I just told her to pay whatever she pays other sitters. When I actually researched it, I was quite surprised at how much baby-sitters make now. It's either $5.00 per kid per hour, or $9.00-$13.00 an hour depending on how long you've been baby-sitting and how old you are. For the people I baby-sit for on the side, I usually asked for $5.00 per hour. $4.00 for the first kid and $1.00 more for any other kids. $5.00 per kid per hour seems like alot. That's pretty much a parents date night money for the night depending on how many kids they have.

So, my questions is for you mom's out there, how much is normal, really?

Busy Weekend

Phew! This weekend has been kind of crazy! On Saturday, we went up into the forest and got our family pictures taken by a photographer that I baby-sit for every once and a while. We won't get the pictures for a couple weeks, but I think they're going to turn out great! The men all dressed in black pants, shoes, ties and suspenders and white shirts and the ladies wore black, red and white dresses. Can't wait to get the pictures back!
Right after that we had a picnic where we took our pictures so we could all say bye to Russell before he left for Oklahoma for a couple months.
Later that night I went out with my older brother Thomas to a fancy restaurant. I have fun going with him because he has me try stuff I'd never in all my life try, if I was by myself. We don't go a lot, but when we do it's fun. He used to be a chef for a really nice restaurant, so he was my menu translator...fancy restaurants tend to have fancy names for their food, and not much of a description. And knowing me, I'd order something that sounded cute, but was really something nasty.
Anyways, I got to try Foie Gras Duo. For those of you that don't know what that is, it's duck (or goose, I forget) liver. It's seared and put on a piece of toast, and also there's duck liver shaped as a cut up hotdog, that you can spread on your bread. It's pretty much the nastiest thing I've had so far. It tastes like you're eating fat and the texture is fatty feeling. *shivers* He, of course, loved it. :)


For Father's day we went up in the forest around Sky Camp with Thomas and Amy so we could get out of the Valley for mom, and just enjoy the beautiful day. We hiked up to a spot where the guys could all go fishing. Not much luck on fishing though.
On our way home, Timothy and Jonathan, called and told us our dog was having a hard time breathing, and looked like he was dying. We all knew this day was going to come, but it seemed so sudden and I wasn't expecting it so soon. He passed away a couple hours later. We've had him for (I think) 14 or 15 years, so he was getting pretty old. It's sad, but I'm glad he doesn't have to go through another 4th of July...he's terrified of fireworks. =(

A field of grass

As I was driving to work this morning, I noticed ahead of me that a Semi truck and a small car stopped in the middle of the road, and two people running towards the other side of the road. I thought that maybe they had dropped something metal and were running to get it, but as I got closer, I noticed it was a motorcycle, and a man lying face down in the middle of a field of grass. It looked like the lady that was in the small car, was panicking, and not knowing what to do. She scrambled back and forth between the body and the semi truck, trying to figure out how to get people to stop on the other side of the road. The semi truck man immediately called 911, telling them to get there fast. After the scrambling around, the lady quickly told us that the man was breathing, but he wasn't moving and he wasn't talking to anyone. On his black leather jacket there was blood, but thankfully, I couldn't see how bad it was.
A man I don't even know, I was crying for. I was imagining his loved ones getting a call saying he'd been in a bad accident. I'll probably never know if that man survived the accident or know how bad it was, but God knows and can take care of that.
It makes me so thankful for all the times God has watched over me in my close calls. Makes me want to remember to pray even more before I leave the house everyday for work.

So, Man in the Field of Grass, I hope you're going to be okay...

What do you think...

About joining our Mother-Daughter book club? I'm talkin' about you sisters in Indiana, Idaho, Oklahoma, Colorado..or anywhere else around the US. Is that a dorky idea? Me, Mandy and mom thought it would be a fun idea to have you sisters join us in reading books. I made a blog just for the book club, where anyone can post what they think of the book, what book we should read next and why, or whatever else. If you're interested in it, you can e-mail me (my e-mail is to the right of this post). Us sisters here in Oregon are starting June 22, and the invitations are being given out tomorrow at church. The Mother-Daughter book club doesn't mean you have to have your mom join or have to have your daughter join to read with us. It's just what we're calling it right now. So, honestly, what do you think? =/

Oh yeah, the blog address is: mother-daughterbookclub.blogspot.com