20 Years Already?

It's been 20 years since I graduated from high school. It's a bit of a mile marker in one's life. You are now a completely different person than you were 20 years ago, but for some reason, whether high school was a good or bad experience, who we were then (as much as many of us would like to deny this) seems to somehow influence who you are the rest of your life.

Overall, it was a great weekend to get away, let loose, and act like a kid again. "The girls" had an old fashioned slumber party and spent the evening (and early morning) looking at yearbooks, reminiscing, and giggling like old times.


The best part was I got to spend an entire weekend with my oldest and dearest friend, Shannon (on the far right.) Very few friendships make it past high school to go on to a deeper level. She is one who has and I'm grateful for it.

It was such a treat to be able to spend time with her kids. It truly seems like yesterday we were making trips out to see one another after the birth of all of our children (she had a couple more trips to make than I did.)


Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art...It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.
C.S. Lewis


Take a moment to be thankful for friends that stand the test of time.

HAITI

Many of you know that Tony, Aubrey, and I spent 10 days in Cap Haitien, Haiti this past summer working at an orphanage there. As we were hoping to make a difference in the lives of the children there, the situation was reversed. The children and the staff there had an incredible impact of the 3 of us. We have never known children to be so grateful, loving, helpful, creative, and just plain happy.

I think I could post every picture we took while we were there and write a book, but I will spare you and just share the highlights.


THE WORK:

There is no real sewer or landfill system in Cap Haitien, so when streets are clogged with trash, the water tends to pool up at the orphanage. The project we decided to take on while we were there was helping the stagnant water drain out of the orphanage. The best way of doing this was to have 5 truckloads of dirt hauled in and manually move it to build a canal to improve the drainage system already there. We've never sweat so much in our life!

Here is the end result of our labor as well as the process.




THE KIDS:

Aubrey with Sam...they were buds from the beginning.

Aubrey flying a kite with Sam. Aub and I jump roping with the girls.



Tony and Jhonny... Jose and Dalencia...they take such
care of one another.



Josie (left) and Ti-Marie (right) begged Aubrey to do her hair. It only took 3 hours and a very high pain tolerance....but they got it done. Aubrey and Josie are keeping in touch with letters since we have gotten home.

The biggest impact on all of us was an overwhelming attitude of gratefulness. Not for all of the material blessings that we have in the US, but gratefulness for a God who provides for ALL of His people. Not on a physical level, but on a spiritual level. Psalm 146:9 says "The Lord protects the strangers; He supports the fatherless and the widow, But He thwarts the way of the wicked." He is the protector of His people. The key to world peace, to starvation, to war, to corrupt governments, isn't what this world thinks it is. This world seeks diplomacy, negotiation, and sometimes war to solve these problems. The real solution is our God who is so powerful he simply spoke and made the heavens, simply breathed and there were stars (PS 33:6.) Our God who looks from heaven and sees ALL the sons of men; and looks on ALL the inhabitants of the earth, who fashions the hearts of them ALL, and who understands ALL their works (Ps. 33:13-15.) His eye is on us who fear Him, He will deliver our soul from death and famine. He is our help and shield. So therefore, we wait for the Lord, our heart rejoices in Him because we TRUST His holy name (Ps. 33:18-21.) The solution is simple...the world simply needs to learn to trust in this magnificent Creator. To trust in Him, they need to know Him, to know Him, they need to hear about Him. For this reason we are planning to continue this ministry as long as God will allow.

Summer 2010

We started off in May with our traditional Providence Fun Run with the Schadeggs. We did this the first year they moved here and have done it most years ever since. Everyone won a ribbon. Even John won a ribbon for the mile run. He somehow managed to keep up with little Joshua the entire way! (Joshua is holding it.)

Training continues as I am planning to run a half marathon the end of August and a full at the end of October.

We have a new addition to our household. We have taken in a vagabond grad student from Ohio named Trevor. He has benefited a great deal...we refinished a room in the basement just for him and he gets the privilege of partaking of my fabulous cooking every night. The kids love him and he has truly been a blessing to our family.




















Cameron has graduated to Boy Scouts and Caleb is now a Bear Cub Scout. Scouting has been great for the boys as it gives them a sense of accomplishment as they complete assigned tasks.
















We decided to take a spontaneous and long overdue trip to see the Hammon family in California while Tony was in Europe for work. They have a beautiful place and it was great to spend some quality time with all the girls (and Doug.)


My good friend Amber talked me into doing a triathlon with her. We had a great time and I finished right at my goal time (and no...I won't disclose what it was.)

These are only highlights up until June. July was full of excitement as well. Details are soon to come.

Scouts and Other Adventures

The boys have moved up in the world of Scouting. Caleb has earned his "Wolf" badge and Cameron has earned his "Webelo" badge. For most of you, this means very little. But in the world of Scouting, it is a pretty big deal. They received their awards at the "Blue and Gold" banquet while we celebrated 100 years of Scouting. Our troop is the oldest troop West of the Mississippi River...we are pretty proud of Troop 1 in Logan.

Here is Dusty (Cam's scouting inspiration) awarding him his "Joyful Servant" award earned through Bible study and service projects.

Cam will move up to Boy Scouts this summer.

We took a trip to California in March to see the Hammons. They've only come to visit us about a thousand times since they moved. It was great to get away from the gray winter and into the sunshine...but it was greater to visit friends who are like family to us.

Ski season is already over and it seems it barely started. We all took advantage the last Friday Beaver Mountain was open...Dad took the day off, it just snowed the day before, the powder was great, I was finally getting the hang of snowboarding, then the inevitable happened...our first broken bone of our family's skiing life! I have a hot pink cast and it won't come off until June!

We did take advantage of the last snow and I took the kids sledding with the Schadeggs one last time...Dusty (above) took some fantastic pictures of the kids getting some air:

Aubrey was the most reserved...having had the most injuries with this sort of thing...

Cameron a little less so...
(That's me supervising.)

Caleb is looking pretty confident.

Believe it or not, Holly came out of this one unscathed!

Looking forward to a great Spring and Summer!

Rachel Comes to Visit

The update of my blog is due to Rachel coming for her annual visit. She has a tendency to take lots of great pics of my kids (as opposed to their own mother.) So, thanks to her, the following is for your viewing enjoyment.

Cameron's birthday was the 22nd. We got him Air Force paraphernalia. For those who are not currently aware....Cam has his entire life already planned out. He plans to attend the AF Academy, become an astronaut, and become the first man to walk on Mars.


We all decided to take Rachel skiing because that is her favorite thing to do. :-) Check out her new coat she bought in Utah. The kids were thrilled to share the first ski of the season with "Eeooch".

The Schadeggs came along as well. Here is Aub and Rylan.

Cam also got a new snowboard for Christmas/birthday. He picked it up quick and loves it.
Holly took another lesson this year. We were all proud of her progress.

...as was Rachel.

Caleb helping his little sister with her skis...too cute!

Holly in her lesson...she's a natural! Gotta be if you're a Pirtle, I guess (unless you happen to be the mom.)

We had a great time. We are always grateful for Rachel taking time out with her own family to come and see us. We luf her!

Falling into Winter....

We have been busy!!!! Hence the lack of "blogging" on my part in recent months.

The first item of business is Cameron's triathlon he did in Sept. He was very excited about completing it and wanted to make sure I put a picture on my blog. He did it with Rylan and they had a great time. They swam 3 laps, biked 2 miles and ran 1 mile. We were very proud of Cam in wanting to take on this endeavor.



Transition.





And he finishes...




Cameron and Rylan.

Cam also ran a 5K with me in October...we both survived. He also ran 6 miles with Jill as she finished off her olympic triathlon. He is the Energizer Bunny!

This last week we took a family trip to Moab which turned into the young adults all coming along. We were so glad they did...we had a great time. I never get tired of going down there. Last year when we went, we explored Arches (and the local vehicle repair shop) so this year we decided to see Canyonlands. We are blessed to live in a place with such diverse beauty. One wouldn't even recognize southern Utah and northern Utah as being in the same state. So here are the highlights:


Tony and I at "The Windows"



Lisa, Dusty, and Holly at Arches. Dusty served as our guide while we were there. He has already captured the heart of my youngest daughter and is quickly becoming the hero of my oldest son (he is an Eagle Scout, you know.)



The boys at Canyonlands. The views were amazing. You really do feel like you are watching a movie or looking at a painting....it doesn't look real.



All of us at Mesa arch.

As for the rest of our life:

Ski season is coming upon us as we try to get our gear together for that. Holly Grace has a season pass this year so she will be moving up the ranks (and leaving her mother in the dust with the rest of the kids, I suppose.)

The boys are wrestling and the middle school coach has asked Cameron to be on his team. They are really learning to love this sport...we see lots of improvement from last year.

Both the boys are in basketball, as well. Something their wrestling coach doesn't look too kindly upon.

Aub is taking on another paper route. You just can't keep a good girl down!

We will spend Thanksgiving visiting Grandpa & Dad in Colo. Springs.

Happy holidays if I don't get on here again before then.

Celtic Festival

Last Saturday we went to a Celtic Festival here in town. It was very educational and we all learned a great deal about this unique culture with it's music, dance, and athletics. Frankly, the whole thing made me wish I was Scottish.

While we were there, Cameron (which means "crooked nose" in Scottish, by the way) wanted to buy himself and Caleb a new sword with his own money (not that there is any shortage of them already in our home.) As I drove the boys home, they were talking of nothing but the conquests they would have and how each sword was better than the other in different respects. They paused their discussion only for a moment as we were coming up the hill to our house. When I stopped the car, Caleb declared, "Whoa...I almost forgot how cool my sword was!" It really was a close call...I had to chuckle. Boys will be boys, I guess.