The Girls Back to School Pix

I received Jaime's pictures in the mail yesterday -- cute! -- so I thought I'd post my girls' back-to-school photos taken on August 16th. As you heard, we had a pipe back up in our basement last weekend, but it wasn't sewer water, it was bath water, so we were grateful for that. Also most of our stuff in the storage room is in plastic tubs, so we didn't have very much damage. Have a good holiday weekend! We're going to try to hit the pool one more time.

A Couple more pictures of the Bridge

The damage is pretty amazing. The end abutment with all the damage had been protected by a rock blanket. The rock blanket consisted of several dump truck loads of boulders, 2 to 3 foot in diameter. I've got another picture that shows all these boulders more than 100 yards down stream.

Flooding in Missouri

Well I've been incredibly busy at work the past couple of weeks checking on bridges that were flooded out due to the heavy rains. I thought you guys might be interested to see some of the pictures. This bridge is about 3 miles north west of the Wilkins' home near Morrisville. They had 12 inches of rain in 24 hours, 10 of the inches came in about 5 hours.

Room Edition Almost Complete

Our Family Firsts

Alyssa's 1st Day of Kindergarten - Aug. 28th

Sydney's 1st Solid Food (Rice Cereal) - Aug. 21st

Andi's 1st Day of First Grade - Aug. 20th

Spencer's 1st Day of Third Grade - Aug. 20th

Room addition

So mom now that you have gotten so good about posting pictures-please take one of your new room addition now that you have carpet and furniture in it!! It is so exciting that you have it done. (or at least the main living part of it done)

Nauvoo

I think I have figured out how to send a picture--but the servers we are connected to--two of them--won't let the image show up. I'm going to keep trying so here goes.

Mom

Scottt & Merrilee Jarvis Family Photo

We took this picture at the end of June. We'll get a new picture to send out with our annual Christams letter, but I didn't want to wait that long to add Sydney to the family photo. BYU football starts on Saturday!!! We are WAY excited, and Donna and Robbie will be sitting by us this year. Fun!

letter

Hi everybody,
I was going to write my letter for the week this morning, but the keyboard wouldn't let me do g, h, or the space bar. I turned off the computer for a bit, but it still wouldn't work. Next I unplugged it altogether for a while--and now it is working, but I don't have time to do my letter right this minute, so thought I'd do this quick note to let you know that I am trying.
Mom

Thanks Todd

I also wanted to say that I really appreciated Todd coming down and bringing Nora. She is so cute and it was so fun to see both of you. Tell her mom thanks for letting you bring her down. Shayla loved getting to be with Nora and Tanner, even if she did think that she needed to be the boss (i wonder where she gets that from). I loved all the little words that Nora could say. She seems way more grown up than Shayla. Thanks again Todd!!! I appreciate the time that we got to spend together.

Missouri Trip

Family-

It has been so fun to see everyone's comments. I am so glad that almost everyone is using the blog site. I was worried about whether anyone would want to so love getting to see what is going on with everyone. It makes me feel close even though I am far away.

We had a great time in Missouri. It was really fun getting to see everyone. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to get to see us and hang out with us. Also, thanks for the meals. I know that it was a hard week to come with all the kids starting school. So I really appreciate the effort that was made on our behalf. Cade still is talking about Kallie, Brie, Baylie, biggun, Garrett, Hailey, and Tanner.

I wanted to post a few pictures. Some are of the room addition for Jana and Merrilee. The others are of the family. I have pictures to send to all of you. I will try to get them in the mail this week.

Back at work

Today is my first day back at work -- obviously I'm working very hard because I'm blogging! Gary & I taught our first seminary lesson last night and it went well -- I told the kids that this was my 11th year working with the youth, but Gary's first day! He did great!
We had a great time with Donna and her family. Tomorrow I'm headed to a scrapbook convention in Tulsa until Saturday, so I'm happy about that! My last summer hoorah!

Kindergarten is a waste of time!

Per Jana's request, I'll tell you about Garrett's comment about kindergarten, I think a lot of the family here already heard this on Sunday, so sorry. I picked up Garrett on Friday, after his 3rd day of school. I asked him how his day was and he replied that he didn't like kindergarten (which I knew wasn't true, he's liking school) so I asked him why. He stated very adamently that "it 'wastes' my time!" He said "I don't get to play a lot, they make me work a lot". Due to the extreme heat and then the rain on Monday, he didn't have outside recess until jjust yesterday so it was no fun for him, so he's liking it better now. I also have to tell you that he learned what a "widgie" is. He came home and asked Hailey if she wanted to know what a widgie was. He proceeded to give her a wedgie, that's what he meant!
I posted a comment to Rachel so make sure she reads the note from us.
Merrilee, Garrett's pics come back tomorrow so I'll be mailing them out soon. Tanner's 1 yr pictures were so cute too!
Kevin (and 2 of our neighbors) put up a new basketball goal for Garrett tonight for 2 hours, he's very excited. He's going to play basketball at The Courts in Spfld this fall with his buddy Evann.
We had a great visit with Donna and Robbie's family. I wish Garrett and Cade could have played more together, Cade called Garrett "Eric" and Garrett called Cade "Caden" the whole time so it was pretty humorous. Cade and Shayla are so cute. I should have invited them out Mon night but I didn't want them to feel like they needed to drive all the way out and spend any of their short time over here. I should've at least invited them though.
See ya later

Rachel

Here is cute little Rachie in her bright orange cast!

Rachel's ankle

I had written an email saying that Rachel was going to be having surgery, well the doctor is postponing that for at least 2 weeks. After I wrote the email he called me later in the afternoon and wanted me to bring Rachel back in to do more x-ray's. The other doctor in the practice didn't want to do this surgery on an 8-year old because of the pain factor. They are going to see how much healing she does over the next 2 weeks and if she is making progress then they will forgo the surgery all together. If it isn't making any progress then they will still have to do it. We are praying hard that she won't have to have surgery. I just do not want her to go through that at all. I was glad the other doctor could see how difficult it would be on such a young child. They came back from their dad's yesterday afternoon and she seems really good and didn't have to take any pain medicine while she was with him. We made funnel cakes (a great idea we got from Kevin and Jaime) and watched the High School Musical 2 encore. We sure have a great little family!! Even Cameron watched it with 2 of his friends-and no offense to those who liked it-but it wasn't near as good as the first!! I will keep you posted on Rachel's progress and send a picture of her in her bright orange cast later today!!

letter

We were on our way home from Nauvoo last Sunday, after going to Sacrament meeting there, and to Carthage--so didn't get a letter done. Now it seems like this Sunday, I'm not getting it done either. Maybe sometime Tuesday I can get a two week updated letter done. How is Rachel doing?
Mom

Tonto Natural Bridge

Ron and I were able to go up past Payson today to a place called the Tonto Natural Bridge. I can't belive I have never been there before, the place was absolutely gorgeous. We hiked to this waterfall and also to the Natural Bridge. It was spectacular, we had a great day together. The kids are with their dad but I would love to bring them up here sometime. The next time you come to visit, (everyone) we are definitely putting this on the list for a half day trip.

Priesthood night

Hey everyone, here is the night Cameron received the Melchizedek Priesthood. The man on the far left is our bishop and he is awesome. The one right next to him is his Young Men's President. We are really enjoying our new ward-we have some great people here.

Jana's house, misc

Ron & Jana, you house is so nice! I'm glad Donna got on to me yesterday that had not been on the blog! I put Garrett's 5 yr portraits up. I see that I've missed so much on the blog. So it's been fun to read over all the blogs and get caught up. I got that creamy italian chicken recipe from my partner at our "Iron Chef" Enrichment night and we loved it, so it was funny to see it on the blog. The kids just ate it up! Also, Kev saw Bourne Ultimatum in KC with my brother in law and loved it. I can't wait to see it. Well we're going swimming now, we will see you all at Kassie's tomorrow, what time?

Garrett's 5 yr portraits

Learning---Rachel

Donna's here so teaching me how to BLOG! Can you believe that I am gradually coming into the new century. Hope that when she isn't sitting by my side I can still remember all the steps. Rachel, we are so very sorry that you broke your ankle. What a terrible way to start the new school year. You have had way too many problems with broken bones.

Mom/Grandma

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill

Did we tell any of you that we went to the Tim McGraw and Faith Hill concert a week ago? It was awesome. We brought our camera but didn't think we were allowed to bring it in so took pictures on Ron's cell phone. We haven't figured out how to download them yet onto the computer. We were on the 7th row on the floor so got to see everything so close!! Faith Hill did her concert first and she is incredible. She definitely has more singing talent than her husband but Tim just sings the funner songs. He wasn't nearly as good in concert as she was but we still loved it and had a great time. The only thing I could have done without was all the drinking! Sometimes it seemed like people were needing there beer more than they were just listening to the concert. We set on the end of the row so we especially noticed how many times people got up to get there beer!! When we figure out the picture thing I will send you a couple.

Priesthood

Cameron received the Melchizedek Priesthood last night from his dad. A member of the High Council, the bishop and Cameron's young men's leaders were all there to assist. The High Councilman did a good job of conducting the meeting as it was just at our house. He made it very special by talking about the Melchizedek priesthood and some of its origin. I found that to be very interesting. I helped Cameron make a Texas Sheet Cake so we could serve it afterwards. Our bishop used to be a mission president and told Cameron if he ever made that for his mission president that he would put him in the office to be the Assistant. Texas Sheet Cake is our favorite dessert here at this house! I took a picture of everyone who assisted so I will have to try and send that next time. Ron was very emotional but did a great job on the blessing. Just thought the family would like to know what our "little family" is up to.

Rush Hour 3

Dave,

We do want to try and go see Rush Hour 3 with you while we are there. I think we are going to do SDC on Friday if anyone wants to go. I told Robbie that you love Jackie Chan. Let's try to do it.

Donna

Block Buster Movies

Has anybody seen Bourne Ultimatum yet? I've been waiting since forever for that to come out and I haven't had a chance to see it. I told Kent that he and I would have to go because it's a little to violent for Nicole's taste. Donna and Robbie is that something you guys would want to do while you are here?

Awesome.

Alright, I know I'm way out of the loop on this blog site but I'm curious as to who set this up. Thanks, to whoever it was.

I like blogging way better than email so hopefully this will give me a chance to get to chat with some of my nephews and nieces. It looks like Christopher and Rachael have blogged so make sure you don't stop blogging.

Question for Christopher, How come you're already back in school? I thought school didn't start until late August.

Zesty Italian Chicken

Jana wanted me to send this recipe. It is really yummy.

Zesty Italian Chicken
7-8 Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breast
2 Cans cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup of milk
8 oz pkg cream cheese
1 pkg zesty italian dressing mix (powdered)
salt and pepper

-Put all ingredients in the slow cooker and cook on low all day. Serve with rice or noodles.

Trip to Missouri

Wanted to let everyone in Missouri know that we are coming August 14 - August 21. Todd, hope you can come down. We would love to see Nora to if you could swing it. Can't wait to hear stories from the rest of you. You don't have to put pictures on to post or comment. Love, Donna

Summer Fun

Hey Family!! Thanks for the posts. Here is a preview of some of our summer. I had a hard time picking pictures to show you. As I was looking back, I realized that we had a great summer. I am not ready for it to be over. We had a great summer swimming, camping, parades, concerts, bbqs, and more.

Master Bedroom

Donna wanted me to send this one as well. The blanket in the background is the one that Mom gave me that she had gotten when she got married. Above it is our pictures of our wedding! This is definitely Ron's and I retreat. We even left the TV out of this room-it makes it so nice and relaxing. I love to read here.

Bedroom

Here is the master bedroom, Donna. I don't know if you can really tell the flooring or not. We love it and it holds up well. I still have to get drapes for this room but for the most part it is done.

Other angle

Bathroom

Here is our downstairs bathroom. Donna wanted me to send this one since I was telling her about the stripes. I call this my Regal Bathroom but Ron calls it the $1000 bathroom!! He is funny! I couldn't get a very good angle on it since it is so small. (It is just a toilet and sink.) I will send another angle of it just so you get the idea.