Trip away to Ft. Worth

In this transition of moving which has just been a blast... blah blah blah..I decided to not hang out in the hotel and not go crazy in a small room and head to Ft Worth and hang out with my brothers family. The kids did so well together for the most part. I got to meet my niece Madilynn( Mark and Dena's little girl) for the first time. She was so precious.


One of my favorite lines from the weekend was when Beth told Jared that she loved him and enjoyed spending time with him. I am so happy that we do not live to far away from each other and we can see each other more then just once or twice a year. Family is too important and life is too short.
I missed seeing my youngest brother. He had to work and decided not to come after. Jared was sad not to see him but we will see him at Christmas. This had the best visit with both the Boerger families for us. I got to spend more one on one time with each of the girls since my children are bigger and do not require as much attention. I took the older kids Beth and Jared to the movies to see Madagascar. The kids loved having their special turn out. Abby and I had more one on one time as well. I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes when her and I went to have a few drinks just the two of us. I promise we weren't even tipsy.. Abby is just a comedian.
It was nice to have some more meaningful talks with my brother,Paul and also with Mark and Dena.
The kids also exchanged their ornaments to each other. We decided that we will exchange special ornaments instead of toys because our child have already way too many. Then they can keep them for years and have them on their own tree in the future.

( I pause for a second because AJ was getting into Holly and Shawn's fireplace and had ashes all over him... and I am sitting with the computer where I can see him..go figure)
Now they are in the bath and I am sitting in the bathroom door way.. I know you would think I would stop blogging but they can play and I can type.. =)
Another fun part of the weekend was the girls and all the kids went to zoo Friday for 5 hours. Abby packed us a lunch a we headed off. The zoo is amazing and the kids particularly ran the whole time except for AJ and Madi. We even were somewhat successful in getting a 5 grandkid picture for Grandma.



Saturday I took family pictures for both sets of my brothers families. I was impressed with how they turned out.




Thanks all for your great hospitality and great food.. especially the chicken stir fry..=)
Back to the real world.. and the boys trying to drink all the bath water... Jaarreeedd..

Visit from our Niece and Nephew, Roberta and Alex

Our niece and nephew came to visit for about 6 weeks this summer. I came to know all too much about how much fun teenagers were. They were a great help with the younger ones. Both of my boys became even closer to their cousins because of all the time they got to spend together.
Roberta is quite the cook and loved to teach me new things and recipes every day. She was such a great help with the boys. AJ just loved to play with her and be held by her. Jared loved to use her as a jungle gym and play as well. It was nice to have some actual estrogen in the house. It was lovely to do makeovers, hair, nails, and just all around girly stuff with my niece. I learned a lot from her while she was here and enjoyed bonding with her on a deeper level. We were able to celebrate her birthday "13" while she was here. We had great food, Filipino peppered steak with veggies, rice, yummy cakes and lots of laughs, provided by Gabriel. We also celebrated his birthday since he didn't have a celebration when he turned 11 in April. He just loved his candles.

Alex was quite the handful but in a good way. He seemed to keep Jared busy outside or inside. He learn to make new things here and helped around the house as well. Today on our way to the airport he was remembering all the fun things he got to be apart of.
The most wonderful thing we all experienced while they were here was they were able to hear the gospel and they both gave their life to Christ on June 15, 2008. They both stayed after church on Father's day and asked a lot of questions and in the end decided to give their whole heart to Christ. I was their to witness and shed a lot of happy tears along with their Sunday school teacher,Laura.
Alex was blessed with a mp3 player that had the new testament on it by Carol, a lady in our church. He was so hungry for the bible and even called verses, poems from time to time. He spent many of days reading his bible and talked about wanting to go to Africa to help others and tell them about Jesus.

Here of some of the fun memories of their trip here.

Fishing by the River, Bowling on Fathers Day, Sunday School, Playing at the park



Meeting the firefighters of Leadville, Walking Downtown leadville


They swam many of times at our local aquatic center.


The Healy Museum and Dexter Cabin - Famous House in Leadville


Twin Lake, and driving up independence pass to Aspen,Co

We had a good ole campfire cookout at the Waters house. Alex and Berta made smores for the first time.


We went to the Denver aquarium.. and had a ball.



We finally got to enjoy the hot springs in Sailada,CO


They went to church at the lake. The missionaries from Uganda were their sharing what they have been able to do in Africa. The children have learned to tithe and by a collection of all the kids over a few months they save enough for the missionaries Jess and Bev to buy a Uganda bible. Berta and Alex got to go out on a little boat and play on the beach. It is fun to also hear about Jesus especially by one of Gods beautiful creations, the lake.


The last fun thing we got to do with Berta and Alex was a fun barbecue with our friends, The Mitchells, Waters, Seibels, and Sweet Carol. They gave a party for their kids that were here for the summer and they were leaving as well at the end of the week. Berta was able to try out one of her new hairstyles that she has been learning from You tube videos. We ate and laughed to our hearts content.


Even the grocery bill always seemed through the roof, it was a great time and we will never forget the 6 weeks we had with our niece and nephew.