So much to catch up on, so little time

It has been quite a while since my last blog entry and so much has happened! For some reason I am hung up on the idea that I can't blog unless I have photos-- but given that it may be a while before I get some pics up I thought I'd do a quick highlight reel for the past few weeks (in no particular order). Here goes...

1. The Littlefields came to town! Our much anticipated family vacation came and was just as wonderful as we had hoped it would be! Guy was baptized (how can he be 8 already??) and Karl was a witness and assisted in his confirmation. After his baptism we had a great family swim party at Mom's house, which was followed up by a 4th of July BBQ at Mom's the next day. Their visit included a trip to the water park, the movies (Toy Story 3 and Airbender), birthday dinner at Red Robin, a sleepover at our house -- complete with homemade chocolate chip waffles, bowling, a stop by Atomic 7 with Teni for some allery-safe ice cream, swimming, swimming and more swimming. And to finish the trip off we headed to Disneyland and the beach. It was by far the funnest time I have ever had at Disneyland (and thank you, LaAna, for not purchasing the horrible "Grimace" Splash Mountain photo!). The beach was fun too, with Mom renting a mutli-person bicylce then making us ride in it to get her money's worth! Ah, what a great time, the highlight of our summer. Only problem is that no I miss them sooooo much!!

2. Father's day at the O'Dells in Overton: we had a great family gathering to celebrate Karl's Dad's birthday and Father's Day, complete with butter noodles and ham (an O'Dell family favorite). It was so nice to spend a Sunday afternoon together enjoying the company of family. It was an early b/day celebration for Pops as he left a few days later for a month in Alaska (lucky!).

3. Busted Bronco: Just as we were getting ready to put our '71 Bronco up for sale (but not before a few off-road rides), the Bronco was hit, Karl bonked his head pretty good, and now we're out of the running....what can I say, 2010 has been full of good intentions, but poor delivery. Hopefully the bronc will be ready to go in the near future.

4. New Roomie: Karl's little brother, Jerad, came home from his mission and will be staying with us until the end of the year. He's a sweet kid and we've had fun teaching him a bit more about the life of grown-ups (you know, the "real" world of work, bills and budgets!). Karl has enjoyed having a brother/slave around (sorry Jerad) and I've never met a better dishwasher! It has been fun having him in the house...though nothing makes you feel so old as a kid who graduated in 2008!

5. Baby "D": We're getting ready for the arrival of the newest Fau baby (ok, so it is technically a Green baby, but born to a Fau girl) in November and are busy getting the nursery ready. Aniva is such a great mommy and has everything planned (and I do mean everything!). We spent this past Saturday painting baby's room (I painted, Karl fixed my painting) and had so much fun. I can't wait to hold him and smell his new baby smell!

6. Primary teachers: I've learned so much from my primary kids lately that I think they are the teachers after all. Karl and I team teach the 10-11 year olds and we were teaching them the story of Samson. We had just read the scriptoral account and finished talking about how Samson prayed for strength to bring down the builidng upon his captors and I asked the children what they could learn from the story of Samson. Admittedly, I was expecting them to say something about keeping promises/covenants and being obedient and good, when one little girl answered and said the lesson she learned was that no matter what choices we make, if we pray to Heavenly Father he will always answer our prayers. Wow, of all the times I've read/heard the story of Samson I never really looked at that aspect of the story. What a great lesson to learn!

Hopefully I'll get some pictures up soon, but 'til then, the update will have to do!!