I'm still here...

I've taken a major blog holiday! I really am still here, but am overwhelmed by how far behind I am in every aspect of my life. So, unfortunately, blogging has taken a backseat. I still check out everyone elses blogs almost every day, which seema a little unfair that I am not providing any new information for any of you. I wish I had a magic wand, or at the very least, a maid! Oh wait, I AM the maid!! :) Actually, I have to say that my kids have been pretty good about helping out around the house, especially the two older ones. I do hear a little whining, but they earn their allowance, that's for sure. I made a job chart using the idea from this post. I tweaked it a little and you can see that here. Ever since we started using the new job system, my kids have been so much better. They have all week to do the jobs in their "jar", so that it doesn't have to be so overwhelming for anyone.

Now, if I could just stop adding projects to my to do list. I see so many cute ideas on the blogs I follow and LOVE to craft and create, so it's very hard not to bite off more than I can chew. I'm hoping that after the Thanksgiving holiday, I will actually download the pictures I have on my camera and share some of the things I've been up to. And maybe even post about some of the things that happened this past summer. I'm so BEHIND!

Anyway, we are going back to Dallas for Thanksgiving so we can see some of our dearest friends. The kids have been dying to get back there for a while now. It'll be fun for all of us.

Quickly, I just want to mention, in the spirit of Thanksgiving a few things I'm grateful for: My amazing and wonderful husband, who is truly my best friend, my sweet and crazy kids, our home, Adam's job, the gospel, Stephen's hot chocolate :), cell phones, and all of you! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

My amazing brother

I am constantly blown away my brother's artistic talent! He has always been an amazing artist, but lately he has been doing portraits from photographs. Amazing!! check out his artwork here. He also does web design and logos and so much more. If you have a facebook account, you can check out his stuff here. He's also a great friend and so hilarious. He's fun to play games with and just hang with. He's dating an amazing girl, too, who we all hope will be our sister-in-law soon. Russ, you rock!!!

His contact information is on his website if you'd like him to do some artwork for you. He's for hire!! I hoping to have him do some portraits of my kids soon.

1st installment of our Summer Vacation

We recently got back from Utah, where we went for our summer vacation. We packed a lot into the 18 days we were gone. Usually Adam will drive our family out there and will stay a few days and then fly home and work while the kids and I stay for a few weeks, then fly back out, stay for a few days and then drive us all home. We didn't want to do that this time. I enjoyed having Adam with us the whole time. It was heaven being together for that many days with our family and friends!

First we had a reunion with Adam's family at Little Creek Cabin.




This is the second time we've had the Seegmiller reunion there and it is so nice! There is plenty of room for everyone, even if the beds aren't very comfortable. There are acres and acres to explore and Uncle Hal always brings his horses and 4-wheelers for a great time. It's beautiful there and our kids always really look forward to it.


(Ethan and his cousin, Adam, earned their horsemanship badges for boy scouts, thanks to Uncle Hal.)

Grandma Janet had printed a story and pictures of ancestors for each of the kids to read out loud. She gave everyone a copy of all the stories in a binder so we could take them home and have them to read over and over. I thought it was such a great idea and am grateful that our kids will be able to know their ancestors better. Each night 4 or 5 of the kids took a turn reading their story to everyone.


(Ben reading his story with Adam's help. Grandma Janet had each of the kids put a sticky note, with their ancestors name on it, on the map to show where they had lived.)


(Levi reading his story. He's become such a great reader this year!)

We had fun making crafts, playing board games and horse shoes, and making s'mores. Grandma Janet even challenged the kids to bring books they were currently reading and read for at least 30 minutes some time during the reunion. She promised a treat if they did it. Fortunately she brought lots of treats because some of them read way more than 30 minutes so they could have more treats. Once again, a great idea!


(Here is our lovely Grandma Janet standing behind my nephew, Will. You can see a sliver of Papa Keith off to the right.)

After leaving the reunion, we went to Grandma Janet and Papa Keith's house for a couple of days. We caught up on laundry, played games, and Adam and Ethan went to see Great Expectations with Grandma Janet. I could've gone, but wanted to visit some more with my sisters-in-law, Mercy and Tasha. We all really enjoyed seeing family and catching up on their lives. The cousins had a blast together and we can't wait to see everyone again in a couple of years, if not sooner!

Stay tuned for details on our McMullin reunion, which was the next adventure on our trip!!

When it rains it pours!

This is a view of the "trickling creek" across the street from our house. It was not so "trickling" over the weekend!




Another shot of the creek. This isn't even a picture of it at it's highest. It got even higher than this. I was starting to worry for the houses across the street, but they were fine, thank goodness.




This is a picture of the grassy common area at the front of our neighborhood - totally under water! There is a walking trail that goes through the grassy area and people let their dogs off leash to run around in the grass. Not this weekend!!




This is another shot of the grassy area that is now a lake. You can see where the water came up so high on Saturday that it broke the fence and crossed over the road. They just finished fixing and repainting the fence last week - all for nothing.

We were lucky that we didn't have any problems, but a lot of people around us weren't so lucky, even in our own neighborhood. People all over the area were having to be evacuated and helped all weekend. A lot of the roads closed due to flooding, including the major interstates. Church was cancelled on Sunday because the Stake presidency didn't want people to try to get out with the road conditions. I don't think a lot of people would have been able to get to church anyway with the road closings. We just spent a quiet day at home making cookies and playing games.

School is closed today as well for the same reasons. They are expecting the water levels to still rise as the water runs off, even though there isn't any more rain in the forecast. I guess we won't know until Tuesday or Wednesday what the real damage is in the area. It will be devastating, with so many homes and businesses flooded and parking lots and roads full of cars under water. Crazy!!

Apparently this is the worst rain and flooding on record for the area. I've never seen anything like it. I couldn't believe how much it poured on Saturday. It was a bit scarey.

Adam and Ethan were on a boy scout campout and I thought for sure they would be home early Saturday morning because of rain, but they ended up staying and finishing their camping trip because they were 2 hours south of here and it wasn't raining at all. They went rock climbing and repelling and had a great time. Ethan (and Adam) repelled down a 200 ft. cliff apparently. Cool!! I'm glad Ethan is having so many great experiences with his youth and scout group here. They do a lot for these kids.

All I can say is that I'm grateful the Lord kept our family safe and sound this weekend. Levi said a little prayer on Saturday when he was scared that there might be a tornado and the Lord answered his prayer. I'm so grateful for that!! It's the simple things in life that mean the most!