Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park

Brooke went to Malakoff Diggins State Historic Park last week with her 4th grade class. It was her first overnight field trip and she was very excited. Everyone had to dress up like pioneers or miners, which made it extra fun. The students got to do interesting projects, such as pan for gold, make candles, weave ropes, make a hook with a blacksmith, etc. It was a great experience and we both had a fantastic time!

Last Day of Summer Vacation, First Day of School and a Missing Tooth

We spent the last day of summer hanging out at our pool with my nieces, Katelin and Laila. We had a great summer vacation and it was sad sending the kids back to school this morning, but they were quite excited. Both Brooke and Drew seem to have really nice teachers and the year started off well. The real excitement of the day came at bedtime when Drew pulled out his front tooth (with a little help from Jarrett), which was loose for a couple of weeks. It was a fun ending to a big day.

Vacation 2008

We went on a 15 day camping trip with the Clader family to Diamond Lake, Oregon for the first 12 days and ended the last 3 days at Donner Lake State Park. Diamond Lake was really fun and absolutely beautiful! The fishing was great, camping facilities were top notch and we really enjoyed the Clader family. We even took a couple of day trips away from our camp site to Crater Lake (a must see) and Deschutes, Oregon. Our Donner Lake portion of the vacation was also fun, since we were with our church family and that is always enjoyable. Although I would love to spend much more time on vacation just hanging out with family and friends, getting home and back to civilization was also a treat!

Goodbye Gracie Girl

Today our sweet yellow lab, Grace, passed away. She got loose without us knowing and unfortunately got hit by a car and died from the injuries she suffered. We have many great memories of Gracie Girl. She was an excellent hunter, she liked to garden (by eating all of the tomato worms off of our tomato plants without damaging them), she was a great mom to her two litters of puppies, and she was so much fun to have around. Grace was truly an outstanding dog and our family will miss her bunches. We are fortunate to still have three of Grace's puppies in the immediate family (Sam, Jake and our dog, Blue). It is amazing how losing a dog can remind us of how fragile and precious life is and can return our focus to the cross. God is truly good and may His name be glorified.

(Get 'em up Girl! - Love Jarrett)

Summer is Here!

It has been a little busy at the Vincent home lately. We are all thrilled that the school year is over with Drew graduating from kindergarten and Brooke finishing 3rd grade. It was a fun and exciting year for them both and it always amazes me how much they learn in a single school year. In the last couple of weeks we have also completed a rather large home improvement project. We hired people to put up a retaining wall in our backyard and Jarrett and his good friend, Drew Clader, installed a wrought iron fence around our pool. I have wanted a fence since we moved into our home almost 5 years ago, so I am delighted it is finally up. A special shout out goes to Jarrett and Drew Clader for a job well done (it honestly looks professionally installed). Thanks Tammi for lending us your husband for a couple of Saturdays. We also appreciate the sod the Winans gave us for our new lawn area. What a great way to start the summer!

Tagged . . . For The Very First Time

Since I only started blogging on May 18th, I guess I was forced to jump in with two feet by being tagged. Thanks Sara for allowing me to experience this new phase of blogging. I was requested to list 6 unspectacular quirks of mine and here they are:

1. I don't like to do the dishes without gloves on. It's not that I am protecting my "man hands" (I am not fearful that I will loose the "Gillette Razor" hand modeling account or anything), it's just that I like to use really, really hot water when I wash dishes. Also, I don't like the feel of old food, especially off of someone else's plate, on my delicate digits! Yuck!

2. I can't stand to hear other people chew! This is more than a quirk, it's a pet peeve. I especially don't like the sound of people chewing on ice. It makes me cringe like fingernails on a chalkboard. Also, sadly, children are not exempt from this annoyance. : )

3. I am a little bit of a bleach freak in the kitchen. I don't feel like my counters are clean unless I have used some type of bleach cleanser on them. You would think I am some sort of clean freak . . . but I can assure you I am not.

4. I am not a fan of loud noises. I don't have ligyrophobia like Rachael (which is a fear of loud noises), I just don't like them, especially in continuous form. Loud music is okay on occasion, but even that has to come to an end at some point during the party, doesn't it?

5. I don't like my children being late to school. I know we all work at this, I just take it very, very seriously . . . probably too seriously . . . okay, I can't remember them ever being late . . . yet. There have definitely been some close calls, but I torture my family in order to get them to class on time!

6. Finally, I have to be comfortable in clothes. I am definitely NOT a slave to fashion. You should see how long it takes me to buy a pair of shoes. I have to put them on, walk around the store, take them off, put them back on, walk around again, and on and on it goes.

Well, I did it! I thought it would be hard to figure out 6 quirks about myself, but it came rather easily. Anyway, it is my responsibility to tag 6 unsuspecting bloggers, so consider yourself tagged if you are named Joy Reed, Sheila Vincent, Rick or Michelle Hagins, Nicole Pickard, Chrisy Myers or Colleen Winans. Some of you have been "tagged" before and have not complied, but I'll give it another try. : )

Limo Ride, Yeah!

Brooke and Drew won a limo ride for reading over 15,000 pages (yes . . . I did say 15,000 PAGES) in a reading program their school put on. It was a lot of hard work for us all, but well worth the many prizes they earned throughout the year! (Don't tell them, but it also improved their reading skills, which makes mom happy.) I frequented the library so much that when I went to the library to get more books, as I walked in the door the librarian would recognize me and tell me that the books I put on hold were in. The limo ride to Round Table Pizza was definitely one of the highlights of their school year. What made it even more special was that Drew's good friend, Tayven, also earned the prize and went along on the limo ride.

My First Post

This is my first attempt at "blogging" so forgive me if I am not yet good at it. I decided to set this up because life with little children in your home is so precious and such a blessing, and there are things that happen that you just don't expect. For example, today Aiden got his gum stuck on his eye. What are the chances of that?!?! As we know, with children there is a fair possibility. He said he doesn't know how it happened either. Anyway, enjoy the pictures! You should click on them to see up close how stuck together his eyelashes were. I almost forgot . . . the rumors are true, peanut butter does remove gum. : )