Two beautiful sisters

Max gets some help from Matt

It's not Mickey, but it's still fun!

Ok, so some very fun things have happened this week, but I still don't have a phone, so I need to use old pics, which aren't that old! And my computer is still full, so I can't upload more photos if I wanted to. I made a video of Cara playing and singing for me, but it didn't work out. I got an external hard drive, but I haven't seen my bro in weeks and I don't know how to do it. 

Excuses! Anyway, the top picture is Cara and Leah at the beach in Northern CA. They had just gotten back together after four days apart. The next is a pic of Max on Matt's swing. If it looks like they are on the top of a rameumpton tower, they kind of are. Matt built an extremely stable tower as a take off point for his new swing. How stable? Well, the climb up the tower was scarier than the take off. Max was leery of all of it, but once he figured it out, we couldn't keep him off Matt's high tree swing. 

The third is a pic of me and four of my kids at Gilroy Gardens. Cara and Maddie were at my mom's house, sewing. Sam was a good sport. He went on many rides with Leah. Of course, this was after she ran screaming off the first slow moving ride. Once she realized they weren't scary, she got on all the rides. Honestly, the ride operator didn't quite know what to do when Leah took off running and yelling, "No, I'm not going on that. No! No!"

The kids are settling more and more into school. And I am realizing that another year is ticking by. Cara is in her senior year. She is taking the ACT again tomorrow. She will be applying for colleges in the next two months. Which makes me realize how much I will miss her. Sam is now learning to drive. He refused for many months, but this past week he has driven a couple of times. I really don't enjoy teaching kids how to drive. He won our ward talent show with his rendition of Pirates of the Caribbean this last week. The crowd was on their feet cheering. I think he was a little surprised. Too bad I didn't record it.  Maddie is back in horseback riding and loving it. She also continues to get straight A's while maintaining the aura that she never thinks about grades or homework. George is 22 hours a week at gymnastics. He comes home and tells me the names of skills he has made, and I have no idea what they are. They usually involve a Japanese name in front of the move. I guess I better make it to practice someday to see where all my money goes. Max has now started swimming. He is an excellent backstroker, although he hates backstroke. And Leah is still Leah. Jumping into every conversation and every picture. You always know she is around. 

So I see that one day it will end. I started having kids 17 years ago. In ten years, all but Leah will be out of the house. My body has new aches everyday. I'm getting old!