Goodbye Steve!

My brother Steve left for his mission today.  My kids love him!  I

am sure that the next time that we go over to Grandma Chapman's

house that the kids will forget that he left and ask, "Where's Steve?".

When he get's back Ethan will be almost 9.

Jacob will be about 7.

Little Eva won't be so little anymore, she will be almost 5.

Daddies Girl

Eva sure did miss her daddy and daddy missed his Eva!

Stinkbug Hunters - Last of the NM Pic's

One of my kids favorite activities was going on stinkbug hunts.

Once they found one they would A-Catch it and never want to release it or

B-Scare the crap out of them by following them all over the yard at a

proximity close enough to just almost step on it with each step.

Happy Hunters

View from the front porch facing the Hwy.

More NM Pic's

Powerlines on the side of the road.

All of these not so pretty bushes are sagebrush.  They are 

kind of ugly, but they make the air smell fresh and minty.

After it rains the air smells so sweet and minty.

Ethan said that it smells like chocolate mint and he was right.

The Rio Grande

Wild flowers on the side of the road.

This is looking down on the Rio Grande from the Toas high bridge.

This bridge totaly freaks me out!  Everytime a car goes over it it shakes like

crazy.  I was singing primary songs to myself and praying that it wouldn't

fall and kill me!  It does have a very pretty view down the canyon.

Just Chillin'

The weather in NM was beautiful compared to the scorching

temps back here in Arizona.  If you guessed it already the

building to the left is an outhouse.  You can even still use it

without getting any slivers in your bum.  However, I would use

it with caution because of the creepy crawlies of the eight legged

kind.  The building to the right is the old garage that is now filled

with odds and ends of all sorts.

Here is Steve chillin' wittling away at a branch that he was

attempting to make into a boat, but sadly it split down

the middle.

Here are my kiddos attacking my brother Ryan and his fiance Brooke during

naptime.

Watermelon

When I left to go to NM all of my watermelon's were the size of grapes.

When I got back a week later I found this little baby.

I also found this cantalope.  I thought that this plant was either

a squash plant or another type of watermelon.  Boy was

I suprised to find this! 

 A big Thanks to my neighbor Toni

for watering my plants for me while I was gone so that they

didn't dry up and die!

Carson, NM School House

I love this building.  It is so pretty.  My grandfather, his siblings, and others

helped to build this.

Boom-a-rang

My brother Ryan purchased a boom-a-rang in town and the kids and

my brother Steve are shown in the pasture throwing it around.

Knee Update

So, I went to Urgent Care yesterday to find out what the deal is.  They did x-rays and they said that they think that it is only a sprain.  It can take up to a month to heal.  The x-ray was just of the bones.  To see ligament and such I would need a CT scan.

I am going to cross my fingers and wait a month to see if it is just a sprain.  If it is not healed by then then I will need the CT scan to see what the problem is.  I am hoping that it is not anything more serious than the sprain.

Family History

During our stay in New Mexico some of the Clarkson's (my mother's

cousin's) came to visit my grandmother's home.  They had come

for the reunion in Colorado at the Pope's.  They brought with them

this amazing family tree that spans my generation all the way

back to Adam and Eve.

With the help of many people who did the geneology, she was able to

put all of the information together and her husband made

the family tree on a 32ft x 4ft piece of canvas.

These are my kids helping to roll it back up, but I placed the

pic's to look like it is being unrolled.

The gentleman holding the family tree is the man who made it.

Isn't this just amazing !

She still has some work to do, but when she is finished all

of the information will be submitted to the New Family Seach

site and family members will be able to enter their information

and just print out a book with all of this information, plus it

will include stories from various family members regarding

my families ancestry.

Sleepy Head

During naptime I was able to take this sweet pic. of Eva.

The lighting was perfect.  Isn't she just darling? 

A Week Early

We got home at about 10pm on Saturday night.  We had fun in New Mexico, but we (the kids and I) are really bummed that we had to come home early.  We were going to go to Texas to visit Elaine, Joe and the kids and Andrea, Paul and their kids. 

My knee had been getting better, so I thought that I would be able to make the trip, but it got really angry at me and changed my mind for me.  I am going to go to the doctor this week to see what the actual problem with it is.  I am hoping that it is not anything too serious (requiring surgery), pray for me.

To everyone that we are missing in Texas- we love you and miss you!