October.....

October has been interesting to say the least!
We had a wonderful vacation at the first of the month.

We were able to see Kevin and Melissa in Las Vegas on the way down. Though brief, it was great to see their house and catch up. They've worked hard and their decorating is really nice.
The kids especially enjoyed "borrowing" Chase's Jeep.

When we reached California, we went to Huntington Beach. I would say that the kids had a great time, but not so much for Josh. He's not the biggest fan of the water. We had a good time building sand castles and playing.

What a great experience for us to go to Disneyland! The kids had so much fun and we played so hard that we all collapsed every night.
Natalie's wish for all of her dreams to come true became a reality after she met all of the princesses and characters that she wanted to. The weather was wonderful. I'm so happy we went. We loved being able to see new things and have new experiences..... but really, there's no place like home!

Life has taken some twists and turns in the last few weeks. I've had a reality check and a few not so pleasant surprises that I wasn't emotionally ready for. I'm struggling to stay happy right now and do what is required of me.
I'm so grateful for the stability that I have in my life that comes from good friends and family. You all help me get through so much, and I probably don't say it enough, Thank you!

It's been a while since I've updated things. So much has been going on, I just haven't had time.

2 weeks ago today, my youngest brother Dave went through the temple. It was such a great thing to have all of the adult members of our family in the temple together. It felt like a glimpse of eternity to me.

A week ago yesterday, Dave and Marcy were married. They were given some beautiful advice that has reminded me once again of the wonderful blessings that we are so lucky to have because of how much our Heavenly Father loves us.

This is a photo of everyone just after the sealing.

Count your blessings.....

The last week or so has reminded me of what a blessing it is for us to have Frank in our lives. We had a big scare with heart and kidney problems on July 11th (which happened to coincide with the annual Bell Family Party - he must have really wanted to get out of it).

My testimony was again strengthened after I was able to witness the power of Priesthood blessings. David and Brian were able to give Frank a blessing when he was in a great deal of pain, and although things did get worse and he underwent a very serious procedure - he was able to pull through. To our surprise, he was back to work at the end of last week. I think it was just because he missed being there to give me a hard time.

In fact, I received a phone call from the hospital one morning asking if the deposit was ready yet - which is something that Frank likes to hassle me about. It was a wonderful thing to hear the familiar knock at the door on Friday morning, as if nothing had happened. I'm proud of Natalie and Josh for having faith that Heavenly Father would help Grandpa get better. Josh didn't fully understand what was happening, but one night when going to bed, he began to cry because he didn't want for Grandpa Frank to have to get a shot. He prayed to Heavenly Father to help him be brave. I know that even his simple little prayer was heard and answered and I'm proud of him for having the faith to offer it.

Tonight, I picked up the kids after they spent the afternoon and evening hanging out with Grandpa Frank and Grandma Barbara. Grandpa took Josh on a 4-wheeler ride through the fields and hills behind their house, and they were resting in the gazebo outside when I arrived. I was very unpopular since I was the mean lady coming to break up the party, and Josh made sure I knew that he didn't want to go home with me.

I'm so thankful for medical advances that have allowed us to have Frank around for longer. We are so blessed to be able to see him almost every day. Things would not be the same without him.

4th of July

Natalie and Sabrina were in the paper a few days ago. Here's the link: http://www.rexburgstandardjournal.com/articles/2009/07/02/news/28.txt

We had a great time with Snoopy here again.
So much fun! Josh is starting to warm up a little. I tried the suit on this morning, and I'm thinking the next time that we get to have Snoopy here - - it will be a lot of fun for me. :)

Time flies.....

This is already starting to get away from me :
We've been really busy the last few weeks trying to keep up with the demands of work, home, kids, and church.
Natalie got her braces on yesterday, she seems so young to be getting them already. We're trying to avoid having a mess to fix later (according to the panoramic xrays that were done she definitely has a train wreck going on with her permanent teeth), and in the mean time taking care of a few other problems. She's been so excited, and getting them didn't curb the intensity at all - she loves it.
David and I pulled off a very successful Block/Ward party last Friday with attendance much higher than expected. It felt like a great accomplishment for us to get that planned and carried out. Just 2 more to go this summer!
We were able to meet our new nephew/cousin Abram on Saturday. He's such a cutie, it's so easy to forget how quickly kids grow! Nate and Nashina are going to be great parents, it's easy to see how much they love him.

Busy Week!

We have been able to do a lot of fun things over the last few days!

Josh went to Montana last Friday with Grandpa and Grandma Bell, and had a great time. We missed him a lot while he was gone - but it sounds like he had so much fun that he didn't have time to miss us.

On Friday after Josh left, Natalie had a friends birthday party that she went to, she enjoyed an evening of painting nails, doing fancy hair, and making cute flip flops. We picked her up at 10 pm, and Jake and Daviana came over to play a game with us. We got chatting, and lost track of time. When we realized how late it was, it was past curfew for Daviana - so she slept here. Natalie was so excited to find her when she woke up, it felt like we had Snow White in our house.
We went to the Riot Zone in the afternoon on Saturday, and it was so rainy and windy that the lines weren't very long. We had a great time riding go-carts. The track was so slick from the rain that every time you turned a corner, you would slide - most of the time colliding with someone else. We also played a game of mini-golf which included David, Natalie, Tom, Torri, Jake, Daviana, and I. It was fun until the wind picked up and the rain started to pour.

After getting rained out, we decided to go and see the movie "Up" in 3-D. It was fun, but not a great choice for kids. Natalie didn't love it like she has a lot of other movies. David and I liked it a lot. Oddly enough it had more of an adult feel for a Disney show, not a lot of kid stuff at all.

We decided after stake conference on Sunday morning (made so much easier without Josh - we love having him around, but he gets impatient during normal church) to make cinnamon rolls and took some to Nate and Nashina to say hi. They are getting close to having their baby, probably sometime this week. Nashina invited Natalie to stay over, and Natalie was thrilled! They had a great time, and after Josh finished school today we picked her up.

This evening we went to the circus that came to Rexburg. We had a great time, and the kids got to go for a ride on an elephant! They had so much fun. It was exciting for the kids to be able to go other places and I'm happy they had the chance to do that. It's nice to know that we're all back together tonight.

Joshua describing Yellowstone Park

Natalie describing our day in Yellowstone

Joshua describing Old Faithful and a dog

Natalie

This photo was taken the last day of school May 2008.
It's one of my very favorites.

Yellowstone Park
May 25, 2009

On Memorial Day, we took a trip to Yellowstone park.
Josh especially enjoyed using the binoculars, though I don't think he understood exactly how to use them.

It's taking me a while to get started.....
I haven't touched this for a while, better late than never I suppose.

School is out for the summer and Natalie is thrilled to be able to stay up a little later than usual. She's quickly fallen into her role as Josh's #1 entertainment source.
I love having her around! She's so grown up already - gets up in the morning, does her chores, and comes up with original activities for the day.
She's taken it upon herself to be Josh's speech tutor for the summer since speech therapy ended last week. She will quiz him on things, and give me a full report on how he is doing: "He's doing well on his t's, but he really needs some work on the s's. We'll keep working on that, because he's getting better." I've asked if she's now planning to be a speech therapist when she grows up, and no - still planning on being a dentist.
It makes my life so much easier that she's happy to help. How was I so lucky to be blessed with kids that get along? I'm so thankful!
This evening she attended her first "Jazz variety" dance class that will last throughout the summer. They should learn some fun things, and she's excited about it.

Josh is excited that Natalie is here every day. It became difficult toward the end of the school year because he would wake up every morning and get mad that Natalie had gone to school.
It's a nice change for him to be the one that has somewhere to go since he attends preschool 3 times a week. He has a favorite teacher, "Miss Ashleigh" who came to visit last night. She is doing her portfolio on Josh and keeps daily notes on his progress. He really likes her and was soooo excited for her to visit so she could see his room, Natalie's room, the hallway, the backyard, the car, etc. I'm happy that he makes friends easily - that will make it much easier for him later on.

We took the kids swimming on Saturday at Rob and Annette's pool, and tackled Josh's fear of water! He's never wanted to go swimming before, despite many times trying and failing. He would freak out even seeing a swim diaper, or trunks. It was a great accomplishment, and I used the "frog in the boiling water" method of getting him used to the idea. We started out putting his feet in, and then he started playing ball with us from the side of the pool. After a while I had him on my shoulders, and started by walking through the water that was shallow so that his feet didn't touch, and gradually moved until it was a bit deeper, and waited for him to approve - after a while he really liked it (except for the splashing) and was riding on my back singing me songs that he's learned in preschool and primary. It was a great day, I'm so proud of him for overcoming his fear. Now we just need to work on animals....

All in all, the summer is off to a good start. My routine is starting to feel a little more normal, and so far, I'm keeping up pretty well. Hopefully things don't get too crazy and summer will be more relaxing than chaotic.

Well here we are - finally blogging. I don't have much time, but it seems worthwhile - so we'll give it a try.