Oh, man! I'm a blogging slacker! It's not that I don't have anything to write about. It's just that, well, um, nevermind the excuses. They're boring anyways.
So the best news is that SCHOOL STARTED THIS WEEK!!!!! I used to complain that we had to start before Labor Day, but now I'm wondering...What was I thinking? This totally rocks! All the boys head out at about 8 and then it's peace and quiet around here. Well, except for Jantzie. But she'll be starting preschool in "six sleeps." I had forgotten what it was like to clean a room and have it stay that way for more than 15 minutes. I could swear I did the dishes at least 20 times a day during the summer. And nevermind how many times I wiped the counters. My dishrag wringing calluses were getting really big, I tell ya!
Ever since Daniel arrived the kids have been extra... well...let's just say...energetic. They love having a big brother to wrestle with and to exchange wedgies and titty twisters with several times a minute. (Is that how you spell titty? Now that's a word I've never put in writing.) Anyways, they're worried that they'll get "man-boob cancer" from all of this, but apparently not worried enough, because they haven't stopped.
We were lucky enough to have visits from Grandma Shanna and Grandma Fay in the last couple of weeks. The kids always love to show them what they've been up to. Mostly all at once within the first two minutes of their arrival, but hey what can I say? They're excited!
Things with my Scentsy business are really taking off. The booth I had at the fair turned out to be very beneficial, and now I just have to figure out how to fit it all into my already full schedule. All of a sudden I have a kid in preschool, a kid in elementary school, a kid in middle school and a kid in high school. Whew! This is gonna be hard to keep up on! My calendar looks like graffiti on the side of a bridge with everything trying to squish into the boxes. Tonight at dinner Chris asked if maybe I'd like to have a palm pilot or something (maybe because I triple booked myself for two separate days next week), but my first thought was that it would just take too much time to use. I rather like my old fashioned squish it into the boxes on the calendar method. Besides that, I think I'd rather have one of those rockin' nike plus things that works with your ipod to tell you how far you've run, how fast, and whether your butt is still jiggling like it did three months ago when you first started running regularly. OK, just joking on that last one. And speaking of running, I'm still doing it. I'm not sure if I'd say that I'm enjoying it or not, but I like that I'm about 10 pounds lighter while still eating whatever I want. In the past I've heard runners talk about how good they feel afterward, how they grow to like the pain, how it's not really that hard to run far, etc.. And I've always rolled my eyes and thought that they are just some weird breed from Neptune or something. But I'm getting to where I feel like that too. I started running for the first time just shortly after Jantzen was born, and I was so proud when I could run a mile without stopping. In all my years of playing sports growing up, running was always really hard for me. But now four miles is considered a short run, and I don't even bother bringing water with me. A while back I bought some of those energy cube things with electrolytes and stuff in them for my long runs. And it's funny that I haven't used them yet because I don't think I've had any long runs yet. Three years ago I would have thought seven miles was a long run! It's amazing how your perspective changes when you set your sights on 13.1 miles rather than the 3.1 I would always run in races. Anyways, I guess what I'm saying is that it's true what those crazy runners say. You just gotta get out and try it.
And oh, yeah, Chris is going to be gone all next week for HAZMAT training in Portland. But don't worry. He'll be home for a whole week before he leaves again for more of the same. Now would someone please spill some chlorine or gasoline or acid somewhere so that he can put all this knowledge to use? Then at least we would feel like these FOUR WEEKS of training in Portland are not wasted. Thank you very much

Catch up. Or is it ketchup? Whatever. Let's call it an update, OK?

On my last post I mentioned that our life might be a tornado, and judging by how far behind I am in my blogging I'd say that's true. But things are starting to calm down a bit and so now I'll try to get updated before any kids wake up screaming for breakfast. Soooo, where did we leave off? Oh yeah, RAFTING!!! As always this is one of our favorite weeks of the year. We met up with the Brodericks, Royers, Savages and Petersons for some rip roarin' good times. We have the women's favorite tradition of breakfast cooked by the men. No cereal and pop tarts here. We're talking hash browns, gravy, eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage and fresh fruit every morning. We wouldn't want to get hungry on the river, right?

After we have clogged all arteries and packed on some pounds it's time to get serious about some fun. It's a little crazy figuring out who's going and who's staying in camp and who's driving and who's picking everyone up at the pull out and who's cleaning up breakfast and who's watching the little kids and who's gonna put on the pink tank top and act like a girl. Wait. What? Oh, Jake's got that last one covered. Thanks Jake! That was funny. We can always count on you for some laughs. And some dancing to Hannah Montana/High School Musical/Camp Rock music.
Getting ready to start our journey down the river.


Poor Jantzie, she looks like an orphan with all that messy hair. But actually it doesn't seem like she really cares.

This is our crowd taking off. We actually had 2 rafts and 3 kayaks, but I guess I missed the others when I took the picture. See? Nice and calm, nothing to worry about. Just a walk in the park.

Now check this out! We're heading down Oak Springs, the biggest rapid, and we're gonna hit it just right, meaning that we're all gonna have to change our underpants after this. HEHE!

Hold on! Are we gonna tip over?

No way! But the boat filled with water and we all screamed for our mommies.

We took some "redneck showers", too. First you jump in...

Then you soap up and jump in again!

There's this great little cliff right by our camp that provided entertainment while we weren't on the rafts. We all jumped in except for Jantzen. She thought hard about it. She had her life jacket on and was standing on the edge looking down, but in the end she couldn't bring herself to do it. The fact that she even thought about it makes me proud. I don't want her to be too prissy, you know? Anyways, we had so much fun and can't wait to do it again. Good thing we only have to wait until Thursday. We're totally addicted, and yes, we're going again.

And now onto other things...

Keaton went to Boy Scout Camp and earned 5 merit badges!

I didn't know this, but apparently they have one in bodybuilding now. Keaton and cousin Blake both got that one.

Also...

Our exchange student from Germany arrived.

As you can see, Jantzen was very excited. Everything is going great with him. He is a very nice boy and he tolerates our craziness quite well. I mean, he hasn't gone running for the nearest airport yet, anyways. It's been hot here, about 95-100 degrees. He says it feels like Spain. I guess I'll just have to trust him on that one.

Our life is a tornado

It's been a while since I've posted. We've been crazy busy, and it doesn't look like it'll be changing for at least another week. It all started last Tuesday. We were just about to head out the door for our annual camping/rafting trip on the Deschutes, when we got a phone call from PAX, the company that is working with our exchange student. It seems that the authorities in Sierra Leone don't want to let their students come to our country, so they denied all of their visas. Things are not looking good right now for Alimamy's trip to the United States. But PAX wanted to know if we would be willing to take a different student on a temporary basis in the meantime. Hmmm. This is all just a little bit too much to digest at once. So we darted off on our trip with the promise of "We'll think about it." (We had a great time, by the way. I'll post pictures and details later this week.)
We arrived home on Saturday afternoon, unpacked, did a million loads of laundry, took some serious showers then began packing bags for Keaton and Chris to go to boy scout camp the following day. We also made the phone call saying that we would host the other student. Today was the set-up day at the county fair where I have a booth for my Scentsy business. Carson and Jantzen went to Krista's (see previous paragraph where I mention that Keaton, my prime babysitter, has gone to scout camp) and I spent a good portion of the day at the fairgrounds. Then we went grocery shopping because I was feeling like Old Mother Hubbard. I received an email stating that Daniel, our 15 year old German student would be here Friday. FRIDAY! So I begin cleaning the house that has been sorely neglected for the last ten days. I'm about half way done. I'm supposed to run 5 miles today. It's not gonna happen.
Tomorrow looks worse. Would someone please put their feet up and relax for me? Let me know how it feels.