A MOMENT WITH THE CUMMINS

Summer is moving along!!

2010-06-22T21:58:00.000-07:00

Let me get you up to speed. We have made the decision to suspend the move. For now. I am in the process of starting a business (more details later) and after exhausting ALL our options, the answer, after many prayers, was to stay put a while longer.

So with that said, Don and I agreed to start using our backyard more, instead of letting the dogs continue to use it. We've gotten in touch with a landscaper and are going to put in trees for shade and green ambiance! (Which I've craved since leaving WA, as the landscaper put it I've been in cultural environment shock for 14 years. Yes I have and I'm done!) Second we purchased an above ground pool 16' wide x 34' long and about 4-41/2 ' deep!! So as soon as that's up we are open for play time!! Just a nominal fee of soda or snacks will be charged and your welcome to come on over! :D We'll even have our Icee machine going!

I'm thinking the backyard will be done about the middle or end of July. Why?? Well on Thursday, yes this Thursday the whole family will be in Florida! We will be attending the F.I.R.S.T. Convention on Ichthyosis and the kids will meet other kids that have the same kind of diagnosis or other forms of it, people from the States and from around the world. I think it will be a very positive thing for them. Two years ago I went to the convention when it was held in Chicago. This year its being held at Walt Disney World. Shucks darn. Its going to be hard to not enjoy this. And sinse the whole family is going, Don insisted on staying another 7 days, how could I object! (one of the benefits of his traveling: Marriott points and Delta points)!! The only bad thing (or it could be a relief thing because its going to be so hot and muggy) is that the weather is calling for rain and thunderstorms for pretty much the whole time. (Ssshhhh I haven't told the kids, so don't ruin it) But I heard that the amusement parks still are open. So we'll see what happens.

We'll then come back on the 5th of July. Or I should say the kids and I will be home. Don is currently in San Diego on a job at Camp Pendleton. He will fly from CA, with a lay over in NYC, to Orlando and meet me there at the airport. For the ride home, after the vacation he will take a direct flight to New Jersey. And I will fly with five very tired kids, laying over in Atlanta, home to Utah. I'm hoping that we'll all be safe, happy, have fun, and that no fighting between siblings occur. *sigh* Or it will be a very very long 10 days!

2010-03-17T18:59:00.000-07:00

This sweet little boy had his 7th Birthday on March 12th. He got a new bike and birthday money from Grandma Lou Lou and Nana. He is the best! He's got my brown eyes, told me he'd stay little forever (at age 3), has his life planned out, an adventurer, and a tender hearted little man!

Tonight, he and Don went shopping for a bracelet for a girl in his class, spending his birthday money to get it! At first Dillon wanted to spend $50 for it, but Don told him that for 1st graders it wasn't appropriate and that $5 would be better. He finally agreed. Then later tonight while I was getting backpacks together, I found in Dillon's folder that his St. Patrick's wish was to get this girl, Kala (in his class), a gold chain because she wanted one. Awwwe. It melted my heart.

He is definitely one to watch as he grows up and as his crushes move from one girl to another until he finally finds "the one!" Until then he's still my little boy who dreams of discovering diamonds, rubies, and opals among all the dinosaur bones. :D I hope that his dream doesn't get broken!

We're on the move... hehe

2010-02-19T10:38:00.000-08:00

Ok, so here's an update to our moving.

Out of all the possible places that we could move to, because of Don's job, we have chosen to go back to Washington state. We are currently looking in the Camas area, which is directly east of Vancouver, right north of the Columbia River.

Why Camas? Well first off, because Don had found that in 2007 it was one of the top 10 places to live in the U.S.!! I know, that was three years ago, but it got him excited. He also found that during the summer the average temp is 85 degrees and that it recieves less precep than Seattle onward north. It was also because of how close it was to an airport. It takes 15-20 to get to the Portland airport. We have prayed about it and feel the peace that this is the right place for us to be. The Portland temple is only 1/2 hour away and the LDS community is strong there. Its a very good thing, that the gospel is the same everywhere! :D

We have already found a home there and have sumitted an offer, however we are the second ones to offer and its a short sale. So we're not sure yet if we get to move into this home or not. We'll find out more information next month. Meanwhile we are still browsing the area for other options. We are very fortunate to be in a postion where we don't have to hurry to get out. We have more control of the situation, which is good.

We have a mix of feelings about going with the kids. Kayla and Dillon are all for it and ready to go. They are thinking of it as a big grand adventure with thousands of possiblities. Austin and Sean are not for it at all and make plans according, as far as two years out, with their friends. Its hard, believe me I know to move from one place to another, but I also know the benefits of change. I just pray that they'll have open hearts and that their great personalities will take over and influence for good those around them. They are great boys with a lot to give.

I wonder if anyone notices....

2010-01-28T19:22:00.000-08:00

OK so its been almost a year and a half sinse I last wrote anything. Kayla is 13, is Beehive President, in 8th grade at Fort Herriman, and will be starting up soccer soon. Oh!! Kayla is also set to finish her first novel! She's wanting to get it published! I am so proud of her! wow Her first book!! The possiblities are endless for her talent! She at first wanted to go by the pen name of "Phoenix Lee Dawner", but has sinse decided that she'll stick with her own real name! I'm happy to hear that.

Austin is 11, is currently in 6th grade, learning about the consquences of not being responsible, and has read so many books I'm struggling with titles to come up with to keep him going! He is loving boy scouts and finds that even though it is challenging, he's up to the task, like cooking the perfect pancake outdoors! :D hehe He's still involved with basketball and doing super at it. Austin hasn't lost his dream to go on a basketball scholarship to BYU then on to the Jazz!!! Keep your fingers crossed!

Sean is now 9 and is in a race to be taller than Austin, much to Austin's dismay! Sean is doing awesome in 3rd grade, reading like crazy, and making his teacher work harder to keep him busy and not bored! He should almost be in 4th grade, but we haven't moved him up. Better to be at the top of the class than the middle, I say! Sean is now in "Bears" with the cub scouts and loving that! He's not too much into the thought of camping though.. I have no idea were he gets that! Also this year Sean has started his first season of Basketball! He's loving it, although I'm still watching him dribble the ball with his feet forward while he is looking behind him. Someday that boy will learn to watch where he goes! I hope its soon! :D I love him for it though. Its a part of Sean.

Dillon is 6 and is in 1st grade! His teacher, Mrs. Miller is always commenting on how polite Dillon is, opening doors, saying excuse me, helping when needed without being asked! He's always getting called to the office so that the principle can personally award him with "Patriot of the week". The school's mascot is a "Patriot". He is adored by all the kids in his class, especially among the girls. I come in to help every Thursday and on one occasion I witnessed four girls around Dillon arguing about who was his best friend. Then they turned to Dillon and asked him who his best friend was. (I'm listening in the background, while helping other students) and he raises his fingers to start a count, sighs, and says "I have a lot of best friends"! AHAHA I wanted to go and hug him infront of them all!! TOTO CUTE!! and so diplomatic! I put on the mommy breaks and chose not to emberess him and kept the mental picture! I already know he's a heartbreaker! :D

Aaron is now 2! Oh boy how time flies! He's articulate even tempered, and loves loves to play games!! Video games. He's a Cummins kid. And we have always started them early! Against my wishes, but I've given in with some limitations. His favorite game is Mario! Loves Mario! Whether it is on the PSP, the PS2, the WII, or the gameboy ( Yes, we have them all :(. I know very bad) But the kids love it. And they work for the time to play either by chores or keeping the grade! We make them work for it! Which they gladly do! haha most of the time. Aaron is so special. His favoirte movies are Toy Story (Buzz Lightyear) and Peter Pan!! He loves to watch for his shadow! And at bedtime, he'll say "mom quiet, what's that. Peter Pan" or Tinkerbell "Shh" Its so cute to watch him do that. It has suddenly hit me that Aaron has a fasination with flying! :D AHH I love this age!! Everything is magic!

Don is still traveling with his job! Although it has slowed exceptionally this past year, having him stay home more and working remotely with the customer. Which has been a very good thing! We are reconnecting and making things better, together. Still hard to have him go for five days at a time, but at least its not as frequent and the kids see that! Very important for sure!

So this is where my expirement comes in.. I wonder who will read this and notice that Don and I have offically begun the process to move! We've been pre approved and have been told to house hunt! To where.. we're not completely 100% sure yet, but we have our ideas :D! More info will come in a few days, I'm sure. Don's asked me to try to keep this blog going. I need to put our precious memories somewhere, right?? Encouragement to keep going would be good!

Love to all.. :D

Need to back up...

2008-10-26T20:55:00.000-07:00

So I have to back up a bit... Kayla was not home for the first week that Alli and Daniel were visiting with us. She has having the time of her life in the mountains, near Heber, enjoying girls camp, with the Young Women. It was her first time going. She came home very happy and very smelly!! lol

So during that time that she was gone, the other children, Alli, Austin, Sean, Daniel and Dillon came together one night and created their own rock band. The called themselves "The Animals." Very appropriate has the animals themselves were playing the "guitars, drums, and what ever other instrument" they came up with. And Yes I did get a concert on video!!

Trying to catch up ....

2008-10-26T20:14:00.000-07:00

OK, so I'm really months behind on my blog. I think the last entry was early July. And now its nearing the end of October. A lot has happened. Let's start back in mid-July.....

For the last two weeks in July, we welcomed into our home my niece and nephew, Allison (Alli) and Daniel. The weeks were jam packed full of things to do, places to see and people to meet. I did my best for them to feel welcome and to feel at home. It was hard at night time, they wanted to go home, of course, and they missed their mom and dad. But they were very good soldiers at night.

Don was gone for one of those weeks, for work, so I was on my own with 7 children, ages 12, 9, 9, 7, 6, 5, and an 8 month old. Plus at the time we were helping out my brother in-law to establish himself and prepare to move his family down from Washington state. Meaning he lived in my guest room. So needless to say my home was quite full for the summer!

So what did I do... Well first.. we had a game plan. Keep the kids as busy as possible. That did entail chores! There was no way on earth that I, being the only adult home during the day was going to be over run by little people. So I made them do laundry, sweep the floors, vaccum, pick up toys and do dishes. My sweet Alli even cleaned the toliets without being asked. She was very brave in doing that and she has earned my highest respect!!!

Then if the children had finished their chores, without constant nagging I would take them somewhere fun. The one of the places was to the Children's Discovery Museum. There they played with the balls, pretended to run the grocery store, be a construction builders, postal worker, police man, pretended to be news anchor men and women and put on a play, entitled Goldilocks and The three bears, the dad and two brothers. I recorded the play, Kayla was Director/Narrator. Alli was Goldilocks, Sean was the Dad Bear with Daniel and Dillon being the brother bears. It was very funny and add libbed a lot.

2008-07-24T07:29:00.000-07:00

Kayla did a great job at her first competition! Aspen was the best horse out there! The next time her trainner is going to have Kayla do the jumps as well as dressage. Now that Kayla knows what its like, I think she'll be a lot more at ease and do an even better job next time. We love you tons, Kayla!!!! XXXOOO.... Thank you to everyone who came out to watch her. It was really appreciated.

The many faces of Aaron...

2008-07-16T10:27:00.001-07:00

Kayla really wanted a picture of her and Aaron together smiling, but it just wouldn't happen. The one with him on the floor happened before Kayla picked him up. He was laughing, having a great time. The pictures of his face though really crack me up! lol

Dillon and his Dinosuars

2008-07-16T10:16:00.000-07:00

Dillon is so fasinated with dinosaurs right now! Everything dinosaurs. He would like to have a mural of dinosaurs in his room. He loves The Land Before Time movies. And he's even asked if we could some how get a pet T-Rex in the backyard. Dillon told me that he'd teach it to eat just vegetables (probably the ones Dillon doesn't eat) and that he won't eat our dogs. HMMM... somehow I just don't see that working out... for many reasons! Sorry Dillon.

2008-07-16T10:08:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to say, that my Austin is a great kid!!! He's incredibly smart, helps out a lot, is a great big brother and is reading the Book of Mormon on his own.

This picture was taken in Sedona, Arizona back in April, in my mom's backyard. We definately had a great time.

Sean's baseball award

2008-07-16T10:01:00.000-07:00

Finally, able to get a picture up of Sean with his 1st baseball award and picture. He had a really great time. I think we've found his sport!!!

Aaron going for a ride

2008-07-16T09:19:00.000-07:00

Ok, so the picture isn't quite so clear, but definately worth seeing.. Aaron riding on Toby. It was really cute. Aaron didn't freek out at all. I'm glad about that.

Kayla & Aspen

2008-07-02T10:26:00.000-07:00

This is Aspen. The "new" horse that Kayla is riding this summer. She just got done with today's lesson. And she jumped over a bar that was a foot and a half off the ground. She said it was a little scary and her foot came out of the stirup but she kept Aspen at a trot and was able to get her foot back in without falling off!!! Kayla is doing really, really well.

Her first show is July 19th! So if you would like to come, let me know, and I'll get you the full details.

Hehehe... I'm so excited for her!!

1st... Sean's Baseball!!

2008-06-23T09:24:00.000-07:00

I have to say WOOO HOOO SEAN!! He did awesome with Baseball. He had a great time his first year playing. With his uniform on he definately looked the part. And Sean insisted that he needed the bating gloves to complete the look. He never took them off even when he was in the out field ready with his mit on. He said it wasted time taking them off.

He did great hitting the ball and made it a few times around to come into home plate. In the field he was even better. In one of the games I watched as he caught a fly ball, landing right into his mitt. He had the biggest smile.

Now the season has ended and on Tuesday, last week he recieved his baseball trophy. Way to go SEAN!!!!

So It's Been A While...

2008-06-23T09:19:00.000-07:00

Last week was one of those weeks that gives you a glimpse of what its going to be like when ALL of your children will be involved with something all at the same time. I've tried putting off events like this, scheduling 1 child at a time for 1 thing. Well that is all about to change. And this week was just a glimpse of what's to come. My life as I know it; scheduled, controlled, done on my time, my way, is bascially over!!! So let's begin.....

Please Slow Down and Watch Out for Kids

2008-06-09T15:31:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I witnessed one of Dillon's friends get hit by a car. It was right in front of my home. Dillon was right behind him and if he had been any closer to Parker would have been hit too. They had started to run across the street to Parker's home after playing over at mine. Parker was further out into the street than Dillon. Parker had a cut tongue, a scrapped ear, a good sized goose egg on his head, and other than the scrabs and a couple of bruises and being scared to death, he was ok. Thank the Heavens!!!

I ended up calling 911, while Don, our neighbors, Donna and Jeff, and Parker's parents went over to him. The lady driving did stop and pulled over. She was driving an suv. The lady (who did live in the neighborhood) was driving fast enough that when she hit Parker, the glass on the headlight was shattered. The police did site her and called it an accident.

Because of where I was at the time, I witnessed the whole thing, the running, the hit, Parker rolling and then laying still. I've had nightmares and my body has been tense. And I'm sure that in time I'll lose those, but I'll never forget seeing Parker's little face stare in such shock as he was rolling. Believe me you don't want to witness something like this even if the child is not yours. It will stay with me forever.

So teach your child safety and hug them each night, and let them cuddle when they ask you. My love to all......

Aaron's advancements

2008-06-03T20:31:00.000-07:00

This is the girl next door, Kelli Christinasen. She's 3 weeks older than Aaron.
Aaron liked her shinny little earings. He was very smooth putting his arm around her.
She didn't like it. lol!!!

Aaron is finally cutting teeth!

His two bottom ones in the front are coming in. Plus to add to this, he has started to roll back and forth, and is scooting backwards!! I'm not ready for this literally!!! I need a gate, and I need to baby proof the house, well at least upstairs ( our living area) the main floor is for show, and eating and that's it!! I know its wishful thinking, remember I have four others. Anyway, Aaron's 7 months old and growing very fast!

He is just too cute!!

Kayla's going to ride again!!!

2008-06-03T20:21:00.000-07:00

K, so I got a call this morning from Kayla's old trainner!!! She's decided to continue to teach Kayla. The only difference is that Kayla will be riding a much bigger horse!!! She'll be taking lessons twice a week. Plus, Celeste has found a place that does amatuer competitions in jumping and dressage. So once a month Kayla will be competing! The place is in Riverton and the competitions are on Saturdays. So if anyone is interested in watching Kayla, I know she'll love the support. I'm so excited for her!!! She's nervous she'll fall, but she has gotten back on after a fall and did fine. She just needs encouragement.

Now I have to figure out how to schedule horse riding with soccer? Not just Kayla's games, but Austin's and Sean's. This summer is going to be interesting and busy.

Super Sad

2008-05-13T08:53:00.000-07:00

We found out the other day that Tigger, the horse Kayla had been training on for English riding and Dressage, had died in Feburary. The trainer didn't call us and had been dreading our phone call, and that's why we didn't find out till now. Granted it wasn't our horse, but Kayla had grown attached to him. He was a great horse. I would watch as he would come up to Kayla the minute she arrived. He was so gentle with her. He was the kind of horse every little girl dreams of having. I loved to watch her ride him. Kayla is such a natural rider.

We'll now have to look for another trainner with a horse that will fit Kayla. Her old trainner has other horses, but they are much bigger and less gentle. So if anyone knows of an English trainner, let me know. Thanks.

Happy Belated Mother's Day

2008-05-13T08:34:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day to every little girl, sister, aunt, mother, cousin, niece, grandmother, and great grandmother. It definately takes a village to raise children. And I'm grateful for all the support and advice in raising mine.