The best family ever!!!!

My mom and sister Sherry are the best. I wasn't sure how my birthday was going to turn out. Joe had to work, pack meeting was that night and hey it was my 40th birthday!!!! My mom and Sherry pulled me up by my bootstraps and made it the best birthday ever. 40 things for my birthday - I opened up 40 different birthday presents on my birthday. It was the best and I was pleasantly surprised - we took a picture of the 40 presents but my mom has it on her camera -- I will have to get that and post it on here so you can see how awesome it all was. If I didn't say it before thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you - mom and sherry it was awesome.

The new camera !!!!

This is my new and improved camera -- I was completed and utterly devastated that my Canon Powershot died on me.... I think I actually cried. I was so sad --it was a good friend and it helped me take many pictures. So I upgraded a bit the only thing I miss is that it doesn't take video so I have to take both the camera and the camcorder everywhere I go and make sure everything is charged just in case I need to use the camcorder. But here is a beautiful picture of my camera.....what a great 40th birthday present....

Redeeming this dead blog

So I haven't updated this blog since the day before my 40th birthday!!!! Yeah for me- what an accomplisher (is that a word). So here goes what about 8 months of activties and life in the Young household since September 17th......I will do my best to get you caught up....so get in, buckle up, hold on and shut up because here we go.............

My very sad news!!

My camera died on the first day of school!!!!! I had to take pictures of the kids with my phone - I just haven't sent them over to the computer yet. But Madisyn started Junior High and Cameron is in 5th grade and Dillon is in 4th grade. The school year is already hopping with activity. Madisyn is in Band and Choir and still taking piano lessons. Cameron is busy being a Webelo Scout and joined the band playing the trumpet just like Madisyn, and Dillon is busy with Scouts being a Bear. Dillon also was asked to be in an Early Bird Math Club. So we are all very busy. Sorry there are no pictures yet to post. If I catch some time after Young Women tonight I will try.

My Grandpa

We all knew this day would come just as we knew that grandma leaving would come also. It is hard to see them go but knowing that they have to. We can't keep them forever here but we can keep them forever in our hearts and in our memories. And that I do have alot of, memories of my grandpa. My grandpa was a quiet man with a great big heart. He never said much but showed us all how much he cared buy his actions. Nothing excited me more than to wake up in the top of the camper and hear the squeak of the door early in the morning - knowing that grandma and grandpa had taken us fishing. Many fishing trips and vacations in grandpa's truck and camper. My grandma once told me what her favorite memory was. Daralynn and I singing to the Neil Diamond 8 track tape in the camper at the top of our lungs. Mine is of watching grandpa drive his truck and talking on his CB. I thought that grandpa was the coolest talking on his CB to other truckers and his CB handle was Corn Flakes. My grandpa and his quiet strength helped with many projects at our home. Helping mom build fireplace hearths and building playhouses, picking worms so we could go to Disneyland, and right down to helping me buy my first car. I love every moment I got to spend with my grandpa and am very grateful that my kids got to spend some time with him and know him.

BIG MAN AND A LITTLE FISH!!!!!!

This was our exciting weekend before school starts in one more week (August 31) to be exact. We drove to Hagerman on Saturday afternoon and almost got blown into the water by the wind.....no fish to be caught that day. We stayed at my Grandpa's house and got up Sunday morning to attend church in DaraLynn's ward - Kristofer turned 12 on friday - so my dad ordained him to the Aaronic Priesthood. Then we went to DaraLynn's apartment for lunch and I talked to my favorite friend Valerie VanLeuwen for about 3 hours- she is the one I went backpacking with about 20 years ago. Then we hung out at Grandpa's the rest of the day. Mondy we got up and drove to Little Wood River and as you can see from the pictures - that was the big catch of the day. Dillon started out and caught the first little fish about the same size, then Cameron and then Joe caught that one. I only had the camera when Joe caught that one so of course in the words of Tommy Boy --- "Big man and a little fish"!!!!! We then drove to Ketchum and walked and fished and walked and walked and walked some more to fish "The Big Wood River.....Well as they say "A Bad day of fishing is better than a good day of work!!!" Amen to that.

And the latest excitement for the summer

Joe got the boys interested in fly fishing and now that is all they want to do. Cameron woke up right at 6:00 am this morning ready to go -- Joe wasn't so excited about waking up that early, but Cameron has been waiting patiently to go.