Age Update

I had to go in and edit our ages on the sidebar over there, on account of I am now TWENTY and have been for over two entire months, Allen is now SEVENTEEN, and Abigail is nine already!

We're gettin' old.

In other news, it is Spring!
We've had rain and gorrrrgeous days lately.
Today, we all went out side and played catch and hit some tennis balls with the bat. Aidan is pro. We need to get some video proof of his amazingness. Anna did really, really well, too. I just needed to do some bragging about the two little ones.
We also played a game we made up years ago called Capture, or Jail. It might also be called Cops and Robbers... In any event, during one round I was totally the last free person, and I would have gotten away with jail breaking my people, but then our dumb dog gave away my hiding place! I was captured, and the game was over.
Earlier in the day I went on a bike ride with Anna, Abby and A.T. There were lots of hills, so in the beginning I was explaining to Anna in particular that we needed to go fast on the easy parts. After making it up the hill that leads down to our driveway, the road leveled out. I noticed that Anna was already falling behind and it looked like she was going to walk with her bike again. I called back to her, "Anna, baby cake, you really need to keep up on the easy parts!" She got fully back onto her bike and came zooming up, explaining, "I had a wedgie!"

I'm so looking forward to this summer.
But you know what? I'm loving this time, this now time, too. =)

An Avery Studios Production

Starring

Aidan

Anna

and Abigail

Filmed, edited and produced by Avery.

Disclaimer: Our house is not always in such disarray..

abcdefghij.......

I forgot to add earilier when I posted the following,
that this was in an e-mail I received from my sister
in law.


Although things are not perfect,
Because of trial or pain,
Continue in thanksgiving
Don't even think to blame.
Even when the times are hard,
Fierce winds are bound to blow,
God is forever able
Hold on to what you know.
Imagine life without His love,
Joy would cease to be,
Keep thanking Him for all the things
Love imparts thee to see.
Move out of ' Camp Complaining ',
No weapon that is known
On earth can yield the power
Praise can do alone.
Quit worrying about the future,
Redeem the time at hand,
Start every day with prayer
To 'thank' is God's command.
Until we see Him coming,
Victorious in the sky,
We'll run the race with gratitude,
eXalting God most high.
Yes, there'll be good times and yes some will be bad, but...
Zion waits in glory...where none are ever sad!

It's cracking! The ice is cracking!

We had dreamt of a white Christmas...

but Christmas Day in Colorado was sunny and 50 degrees outside. We should have had a Christmas picnic.
However, our New Years time was white and arctic, with the high on New Years Eve being 7 degrees. Brrr!

This year was truly one of the best holiday seasons I remember having. I was pretty bummed about the snowless Christmas, but we got to spend a ton of time together as a family and it was so enjoyable! We did a lot of the same things we do every year, and quite a few new things. We had so much fun.
We are so greatly blessed!

* * * *

This is just a verse from a song that especially struck a chord with me this year:

God rest ye merry, gentlemen,

Let nothing ye dismay!

Remember Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day!

(It was really neat because I was thinking about how awesome those words were, and then this song was talked about at our church's Christmas service. =)
Sing the words. Think about it. We can remain strong! There's nothing to dismay about! He has come. Christ, our Savior, was born on Christmas Day!

* * * *

I had my camera on the wrong setting for most of these, aaand I can't try to fix them because of random issues we're having with our laptops... nevertheless, here are some of the few pictures I've taken this month.

Opening presents at home.

The best parents ever =)

This will be untitled.

I think I would like to pass the family blog baton on to... someone else.

Maybe Allison.
[Help us out, woman.]

I noticed that we haven't posted since September!

This is a very pathetic state of things.

Well, Andrea turned 18 last month.
She is now my only adult sibbling.



Happy Birthday, roomie!
(Cue the confetti.)

: * : ' :  * : ' : * : ' : * : ' :
: ' : * : ' : * : ' : * : ' : * :

: * : ' : * : ' : * : ' : * : ' :

[I'm sorry I missed it in the blog world, and that I'm too lazy to do a cool post now. But, I did post all your senior pictures... I think that counts for something. Plus, check out that internet confetti I just typed up.
Also, you just whacked me with a neon green pipe. That hurt a little bit. So, now we are even.]

In other news:

Catching Up

Wellll it's been awhile, but I can say that we've been busy!
So to make up for the lack of posts on my part, here's a big one looking back at a few highlights of the last few months in the Fountain Home.
 

We hosted a baby shower for a sweet friend in... July? who had her 10th child just a few days ago. We got to hold the baby 3 hours after she was born. =)

Putting the finishing touches on the fruit torte.

Her friends and family. =)

Outline, outline, outline, paint, paint, cut, cut, snip, cut, cut, cut.

Daddy turned 46! We had some friends over and had a great day. Happy Birthday, again, Daddy!

One of my mom's aunts was visiting from California, and my mom's brother and his family were in town from Tulsa as well. We had everyone over and celebrated Aunt Esther's birthday.