Yeah, we're still here......

I'm not one to post regularly (surprise!) so I figured I'd make an entry so everyone would know that we're still alive and well. We've been busy with life as usual up here in Tennessee. I've been coaching Ryan's soccer team (thanks to a little arm-twisting from the league). We've had a good season so far; each of the kids has shown tremendous progress throughout the season.
Check out the cool "coach" shirt.

I was glad to be home for Cody and Ashley's birthdays (1st time in three years; JRTC in '05, Iraq in '06). I made Ashley a completely sugar free treat rather than a cake (she insisted on NO cake).


I took leave while the kids were on spring break (the first week of April). I promised the kids I'd go camping with them but we were treated to a spell of frosty temps, so Ryan and I ended up being the only ones to brave the cold............in the backyard.

It was a good thing that I was on leave because on Wednesday of that week, we found out that our good friends, Mark and Julianne Borden, in Kansas (Ft. Riley) were able to get sealed in the Winter Quarters Temple. They were to get sealed at 1100 Friday morning so we loaded up the van and drove all day Thursday to get there. We originally intended to come back home Saturday morning, but our friends asked us to stay longer and, since we were still trying to catch up on sleep from the drive from TN to KS as well as the almost 7 hour round trip to the temple the following day, we decided to stay until Monday morning. The kids had Easter baskets, colored eggs and had an egg hunt on Sunday afternoon. We also celebrated Ryan's birthday while we were there.
I'll huff and I'll puff......


Julianne made Ryan a racecar cake for his birthday (scrumptious, and looked good too!) and homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Monday.

Here are a couple of pics from the road.
All sixes!!
Ashley!!!
This is a "customized" lawnmower that we saw somewhere in the stix in Nebraska. It was configured to be like a golf cart and even had a cooler mounted on the back.

Charlie and Ryan had their pinewood derby race last week. Charlie placed 1st in his class and 3rd overall and Ryan placed 3rd in his class.