Hardy Har Har ...

... so I got a new iMac, and it's got some newer features than my G3 ... and 'PhotoBooth' is one of them ... you can take pictures with the camera in the top of the monitor. I went to dinner with some friends of ours last night ... and then afterward, while Rob was watching TV, Nancy and I went a little crazy with the camera ... their five beautiful children were at the in-laws for the night ... so it was a free-for-all! We LOVE the Clark's! They are amazing and we're so grateful to have them in our lives ... I'll bring the computer home so all the kids can take distorted pictures of themselves. Hee hee. It's a good time ... or a cheap date! Ha!

Yikes!

So yesterday afternoon, I decided to take a little post-church nap ... I was sleeping pretty hard on the couch in the living room and all of the sudden I heard the doorbell ring ... I peeked out the window to see if I could tell who it was, and saw a dusty silver minivan ... huh? I didn't know who it was, and I couldn't see who was standing at the door, and they just kept ringing the door bell ... good grief! I was getting so bugged (and still half asleep) ... I thought I'd wait for them to start walking away and then if I knew them, I'd run over and open the door. Well, whoever it was started walking to the backdoor ... I was FREAKING out ... but then I took a quick peek out of the side window and it was JIM! Ha ha ha ... I was laughing so hard ... I guess he didn't have any kids to take care of yesterday - and the Head Honcho told him to jump the van, go home, see his wife and be back by 9AM the next morning. So Jim grabbed the keys and started driving ... he didn't even stop back at camp to grab his phone (that's why he didn't call!) Ha ha ha ... it was the BEST surprise ever! It was a fun treat to get him for 12 unexpected hours. He's filled another camera card with pictures, but didn't bring the camera down, but he'll be home this weekend and we'll post more photos. I hope you all have a great week!

Waterbridge

Hey Ricker, here's that bridge I was telling you about ... it was the bridge across the Columbia river - connecting Oregon and Washington ... 2 miles of JUST water underneath you ... kinda crazy ... It's from our trip to Portland last year - and we took a little roadtrip. We'd just had lunch at restaraunt down on the pier, and the entire time we were sitting there eating, a sea lion kept swimming back and forth, and back and forth ... it was amazing to see something so huge move so quickly and deftly through the water ... I guess that says alot about being in your 'element' ... =)

Ha ha ha ...

So I was cleaning out some files yesterday ... and found some funny photos I wanted to share ... I can't even remember when they were taken ... but Kenzi wasn't very big! What a doll ... and Ry and Jakey ... I just had to giggle ... what a funny picture!!! I love it!

Oh my ... how dumb is this ...

Okay ... take a look at this ... a before/after of the cover ... by using Photoshop, they made her look 20 lbs. lighter ... and wrinkle-free ... GOOD GRIEF! She's beautiful JUST the way she is ... and they have to distort her into what looks like a freak. I mean, look at her arm ... where's the beef? So ridiculous. If they do this much 'tweaking' on a Redbook cover, I can only imagine the amount of work done on other magazine covers. Completely unrealistic. SOOO DUMB.

He's Melting ... Literally ...

He's lost 30 lbs. since he's been gone ... geesh ... see what granola and non-stop physical activity will do to ya? Hmm ... I wish I was out there too!

Float Trip

He was able to go on one of the float trips ... and they had a GREAT time ... it was seven days on the river, pulling out at night to make camp ... so they had to pack all of their food, etc ... pretty fun stuff! Amazingly enough, while out in the middle of nowhere ... his cell phone got perfect reception, so I was able to talk to him more often than when he's a base camp. Crazy!

More Pics from Montana ...

Here are a few more pictures that Jim took ... one is an Indian Paintbrush Flower he found ... growing all by itself ... the teepee is where the boys sleep ... eight to a tent. Jim sleeps in his own tent - not too far away ... in case of a 'runner' ...
I'm sure he'll explain later ... ha ha ha.

Finally! Jim's Journey ...

So here are a few pictures from Jim's adventure ... He's having a great time. I was able to take him back up to Explorations yesterday afternoon - as his truck's transmission had finally died. It's a gorgeous area of Montana ... a beautiful 2 and a half hour drive from Coeur d'Alene. Since he's the 'medic' ... he gets to jump from group to group ... which he enjoys. He's really great with the kids that need a little more attention ... so he gets to spend a majority of his time with the kids that have more challenges. He's doing great and is hoping to do this full-time.

He's gone on the biking excursions for each of the three groups, so he's biked about 250 miles in the past three weeks ... he's dropping weight like it's a bad habit and is letting his beard grow - more pictures to follow ... I'm sure if he doesn't see a bike for a few months after he gets back ... he'll be completely 'okay' with it ... but he did get to go on a float trip and some other fun adventures ...

Hot Mamma!!!!

Woo-hoo! I love it ... it's all in the genes ...

Jim's Celebrity Look-Alikes

Hubba Hubba ... I knew I liked Little "E" ...

My Celebrity Look-Alikes ...

This one is for Renner and Cami! Ha ha ha ... too bad it's not true!

Buellah!!!

Oh my ... what a funny evening. What a good time ... it was so fun to go to dinner with mom, dad and my two sisters ... I haven't laughed that hard for a long time. Oh my ... Beullah!

Rat ... Patootie!

So we took the kids to go see Ratatouille ... it was a pretty cute movie! We sat at the VERY top of the theater ... they weren't the most convenient seats ... but the kids had a blast watching it with their cousins ... it was fun to watch it with them ... it's so fun to see what parts the kids like, and what parts they think are scary or funny. Afterward, on our way out of the theater, there was a promo for the Simpson's movie ... and it had this funny couch ... so we got a picture of all the kids with Kim and Lori - and then one of Koby and then Jakey ... SO cute ... it was such a fun afternoon!

I might be a bit biased, but I happen to think that my nieces and nephews are the cutest ever ... eva! They're such amazing little personalities ... each one has such a different take on it 'all' ... I love to watch them and listen to them ... and can't wait to see them again ... SOON! I hope. I love you all bunches and tons.

I love coming home!!!

What a fun trip ... I love spending time with my family! What a special treat it was to be home this weekend ... I didn't get as many pictures as I thought ... but here are a few ... I took lots of pictures with my heart, that's for sure! Here's one from the trip down ... I left early on Saturday morning ... it was a bit overcast, but beautiful! I took this pic out the window while going about 80 mph ... sorry mom~! Ha ha ha ...