We are the proud owners of a new (well, used) BIG 12-passenger van—and this is certainly worthy of a blog. It is GREAT. I wasn’t sure how I’d like driving it, but it is nice. I feel like I own the road. It took a little getting used to (only ran off the edge of the road a few times), but we really like having some extra space.

How you know when you drive a big vehicle:

You dream that you are driving a school bus (Yes, this really happened!)

You need walkie-talkies to talk to your kids in the back seat.

You pull up next to a BIG pick-up truck at a stop light, the guy looks UP and you and then back, with a look on his face that seems to say, “Dang, I need a bigger truck!It costs $10 in gas to go to church, but the trade off is a little more sanity and WELL worth it.

You have a back-up camera mounted to the rear license plate—no it doesn’t “beep” when we are in reverse. The kids love the camera, sometimes, you can drive around and it will pick up security cameras in stores. There is a gas station near-by whose camera is on the same frequency. We like to go there. David will go in and wave to us. We are SO easily amused.

You can pick up several friends to go to the park and everyone has their OWN seatbelt.You can put a full size cooler between the two front seats—and still get to the back.

The kids are excited, because now we can have 10 children!

There are no fights over who sits where (I know this won’t last for much longer, but the novelty of trying out a different spot each time hasn't worn off yet!)

You don’t look for the closest parking spot, but one where you can pull straight through and straight out without having to go into reverse.

At the bank, McDonald’s drive-through, etc, you have to lean way out and down to push the buttons and get your food.

And the BEST thing, is that you can drive with 8 people in the van for four hours to Columbia, SC to go to the temple and still be worthy to go in!!

The pictures are from our temple trip. On the way home we stop at Denny's where KIDS EAT FREE! We had a great time.

I'm Back!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, and yes, I feel guilty! I love to keep in touch with everyone and I am always disappointed when I check your blogs and there is no recent news. Well, it’s been TOO long from my end. The dial-up does make it a pain and that is my weak excuse for not being more diligent.
I talked to Debbie the other day on the phone and discussed the dilemma of trying to catch up or just take off from where I am. Well, I am going to give a quick “re-cap” of the last several weeks. After a fun visit from Grandma and Grandpa Cannon, we’ve been really enjoying some great weather and fun adventures which include in random, out-of-date order:
Peter’s broken collar bone, Parker’s horrible black eye—chasing Peter in a blanket he fell on the corner of a table, Spring break with lots of hikes (Roan Mountain, Bays Mountain), outings, and park days, and even a late snowfall, a trip to the temple in Columbia, SC—a success in our 12-passenger van (kids eat FREE at Denny’s on the way home), trip to the Knoxville cannery for 2500 lbs. of food (I am the ward food storage person and drove down to pick up orders)—the big van is sure coming in handy! The garden is planted, fruit trees pruned, lawn cut for the first time this year. Flower beds mostly weeded, gathered sticks from yard, had a fire in the fire-pit and Dad cooked over the fire—entertaining us with his “too close to the fire” dances, FHE dinner "cave-man" style (no plates or silverware--just ate meat cooked over the fire with our hands--No one wanted to go in and get the plates, etc.--it turned out really fun), Eliza turning 12—very excited about YW, she is fun—the other night she drew mustaches on everyone for April Fool’s Day—she put crazy hats on everyone and they all woke up laughing. She even did it to herself, so that they would not feel bad, a “1”—that is the best at the band festival. A trip to Greeneville—to visit home of President Andrew Johnson, very informative and uplifting. Also, visit to gravesite of AJ. Probably, over 100 loads of laundry, and that many decent meals, and several barely palatable ones. Another trip to Knoxville for water storage barrels, fun evenings of Blockus (really fun game), some piano practicing with bribes, their piano teacher (me) is pretty lame, we are trying to be more consistent, lots of dyed Easter eggs and fingers as well, eating lots of deviled eggs with colorful stains, and finally a good measure of crying, and lots of snuggling. We’ve sure had fun!
No wonder I haven’t posted anything in a while! Hope that you are all doing well. Happy Spring.

Quilling Talent Peter and Arlene

Here are Mom and Dad's creations. We had a fun afternoon winding and gluing paper. It was fun to just sit with no where to go and enjoy being together. Of course, Dad still can't keep his mind off of farm stuff.

Happy Spring

Here are some more of the quilling projects. It's been fun. I started making the little birth announcements for the kids. I'll post more in a bit. I've got to go pick up Eliza from school. Enjoy Spring--it has been beautiful here!

A Visit from Grandma and Grandpa

We had a great time with Grandma and Grandpa. They came to visit for a long weekend and for Michael's baptism. Here is a picture of the kids with them and Bay's Mountain Park. We went and watched them feed the wolves and enjoyed a show at the planetarium. We also enjoyed time relaxing at home--with puzzles, karaoke, food, Applebees, McDonalds, Scattergories, movies, quilting, quilling, and some renovation projects. (Dad did some work in our bathroom--which had some water damage on the floor.) He was trying to "improve his (handyman) image".

It was fun and we had a wonderful time together. Michael was "beaming" about being baptized and he is sure a boy boy. Denise, he loved the McDonald's money and the CTR pin. I hope that things weren't too crazy for them. Peter woke up Tuesday morning asking for Grandpa. Thanks for the fun memories and taking care of us!

Dial-Up!

“BLOGGING” gone dial-up. We’ve switched from High Speed Internet to Dial-up—so my blogging has taken a little detour. I don’t know if I’ll do pictures. They take FOREVER to load. I’ve also started typing the blogs in Microsoft Word and then I copy and paste them into my blog—so that I don’t have to be connected the whole time I am typing and trying to relate some crazy story. This is great though, because now I can keep a record of what I type and occasionally print out a hard copy. Since I rarely write in my journal, I thought this would be a good history to keep. I recommend this to everyone. Hopefully, David can help me figure out something with the pictures!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAEL!

Michael DeBry
Birthday Boy! February 5, 2008
Michael turned eight years old today. What a fun person. He has sure given us some great laughs throughout the years. We’re glad to have him in our family. We love you, Michael.

The other day Michael gave me a big hug and was snuggling up to me. He said that one thing he loved about me was the way that I smell. (What a relief that it’s a good smell.) Of course, I asked what I smelled like. His reply was, “You smell like your Mom—she smells like a “Country Girl”—I’m glad that you are going to visit her, so that when you come back, you will smell even more like her!” (This is just one of the many reasons why Michael just melts your heart).

Here is another good laugh. About three months ago, Michael came home with an official paper from school saying that he had failed his “vision screening”. I didn’t think much of it, because I figured he had just faked the test, thinking it would result in him getting some highly sought after glasses. He was Harry Potter for Halloween and was very disappointed that he did not get real glasses to go with his costume. I guess this failed vision test was one more attempt to procure himself some attention getting eyewear. I just filed the paper in the trash can and didn’t think anything of it, until about a month later, I got another official form, this time with highlighted threats that I really needed to get him to a specialist! I finally decided that I’d better get it taken care of. I made an appointment at the eye doctor, all along KNOWING that I was right, but thinking I would feel really bad if he went through his whole adolescence without glasses that he really needed.

The day finally came. I took Michael to the doctor. Parker and Katherine were also with me. What an adventure. He CLEARLY faked his way through several different sizes of letters! The huge “E” even appeared “blurry”. Michael would squint and make a guess at the various letters with the only consistency being that he was wrong on every letter. Parker even looked up at me with a look that seemed to say, “I can’t believe he is doing this—HOW EMBARASSING!” I had written on the information for the doctor that Michael really wanted glasses as he was going through a Harry Potter phase and that I didn’t think he really needed them. He doctor was very helpful and nice and didn’t say anything to Michael, even though it was evident what his little patient was up to. The doctor dilated his eyes for some further tests that confirmed my every suspicion. The consulation prize for Michael was the disposable pair of “sunglasses” that he got to wear home and for the next 24-hours until his eyes were back to normal. He even got to wear them to Cub Scouts and got the needed attention his was looking for. What a guy. He sure keeps us laughing.
Just last week, I got another “highlighted” notice from the school. They still hadn’t heard from me about the progress with Michael’s “situation”. I had taken care of the appointment, and had just put it out of my mind. Well, the next step that they were going to take was to make the appointment for him and send DCS (Department of Child Services) to my house!! EEK! Good thing I got it taken care of! What a mess. They had also sent all kinds of forms for financial help for those who fall in the Federal Poverty Guidelines. Add a few children to our household and we are pretty close to meeting those levels and being eligible for government help! Anyway, that is the excitement around here!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! MICHAEL—8 YEARS OLD! We are so happy that you keep things lively at our house!