So...my blog advisor (baj) has advised that I tell this story from 'Rust world'...it's kinda long so just stay with me, or not...
On Monday, Jordan had an appointment at 10:30 am to finally get his drivers license. He first had to take the written test, so Craig took Jordan and Jacob at 9 am. (If anyone has experienced any time whatsoever at the DMV, you understand why it's important to go early... and I assume all DMV's are the same!) When they got there, they were told that his test wouldn't be until 11, so, thus begins our DMV drama... I got there at about 9:45 to trade cars with Craig.
Now, Jacob went to re-take his permit test, again, (that's another story in itself) - and at about 10 ish, his name was called. We are holding our breath and he is a nervous wreck... we watch his every reaction with the lady at the desk and then we see it... a huge smile!!! HOORAY! He passed!! A few minutes later, Jordan's name is called and he has also passed his written test! Double Hooray! Things are lookin' good for our DMV visit today!

Now we wait for the time to pass for Jordan's driver's test... the DMV is an interesting place to sit and watch people... luckily, they called him early (a couple ladies there liked my cute twins and squeezed Jordan in) and we go and move the car to the place they told us to move it. We sit and wait some more. Then, a quiet young woman comes out and I leave to go inside to wait. About 5 minutes later, Jordan calls me and says that our tags have expired! You're kidding me right?? No, he's not kidding - they just barely expired and they won't let him take the test.
He comes inside and we go up to give them his paperwork until next time. The lady says, well, you can pay $20 for temporary tags and still take the test. I think for a minute - I've already written two checks there that morning (one for each written test the boys took because they can't seem to accumulate a total for people to pay all at once) - then I decide 'what the heck' to write another check because I do not want to come back! We fill out the paperwork for the temporary tags and Jordan goes back out to the car to wait.
All this time, Jacob is with me and... we wait some more. It was about 20 minutes later and I get another call from Jordan..... the car won't start!!!!! What?? You're kidding me again, right?? We just drove it to that spot!! Jacob and I go out to the car, and it is as dead as can be. Big Giant Sigh.
The lady says maybe we can get a refund for the 20 bucks - we go in to find out and to give Jordan's paperwork back again. They say No to the refund and ask if Jordan wants to take the test later that afternoon. He quickly says, No thanks - obviously today is not the day!
I call Craig to tell him what has happened and the 3 of us go out to wait in the car. We wait, and wait, and wait. Jordan decides that this has all happened because for sure, some crazy Mexican is going to blow the DMV up and we are being spared! Finally, an hour later Craig comes to jump the car...little jetta giving Big Suburban a jump. It finally starts and the 3 of them go get the car checked out which ends up needing a new battery. I take the other car to run a few errands and try to redeem the rest of my day.
That is how we spent the majority of our first day of Spring Break... over 3 hours at the DMV! Did you notice a common theme throughout this story? That would be the word, WAIT, which is the one thing you always dread when you have to go to the DMV. The great thing is that we get to go back real soon. Why you ask??
So Jordan can take his dang drivers test!

Our pool froze and the guys (with our neighbors and their dog) were brave enough to stand on it! It was about 6 inches thick and there's probably about 400 pounds standing on there! Yikes! I kept taking pictures thinking that I'd get one with them all falling through but they were lucky. We thought the dog would pee, warming it up causing it to crack but he didn't. That would have been one great picture!

For an Art Auction that Logan is entering, he made these clay pens representing the 7 continents..... there's an elephant (Africa), a penguin (Antarctica), a fat Buddha (Asia), a kangaroo (Australia), the Eiffel Tower (Europe), the Statue of Liberty (N. America) and Easter Island (S. America). The action is in March so cross your fingers that it all goes well!

Happy New Year people! Can you believe we're a week into 2008 already? Ben keeps telling me to blog more - that it doesn't matter if I have anything profound to say or that I don't have a darling scrapbook page like my nieces, so...I'll try. We'll see what happens.

We had a wonderful Christmas holiday, as usual - loving everything about it and hating for it to end. I don't think I've ever had such protesting as I did this year when it was time to take all the decorations down! It had to be done though, right?

We had about 8 people over for New Year's Eve. We had way too much food and we played the Wii all night! I know...like one of the twins' friends said to me when he heard me and another 'old' person talking about the games... he said 'This isn't right - old people shouldn't talk about nintendo games, let alone PLAY them!' My friend Kathleen, even went home with a Wii injury to her hand from bowling - she hit the coffee table!

Here's a couple pictures from when we went to the beach in November with Joel/family and with Dad and Linda. The kid you don't recognize is Logan's friend. There's Grandpa and Logan in their baseball hat going to church, the fake fall off the top of the sand dunes at Pacific City (you gotta love that) and Grandpa and Rachel playing Mario Cart. It was a fun weekend!

We hope this new year brings happiness and contentment, and I truly mean that with all my heart.

I know...I know...it's hard to believe that you're looking at something different!

Since before school started, one month ago, our lives have been overloaded with waterpolo, soccer, a little bit of x-country, plus lots of church stuff, just to make sure we are gone every night of the week!

Logan plays soccer and this is his true love. They have a great team and a great coach. He is from England and I love hearing him

yell at the boys on the field, sounding something like this...

"Gentlemen! Get down there!" or "Come on lads! Get in position!" Even when he yells, he sounds so nice. Logan also runs x-country, but only sort of. If there's soccer practice or a game, he'll sacrifice going to x-country in a heartbeat. He's good at long-distance running so hopefully he'll keep it up.

Jacob (#4) and Jordan (#13) are in their 3rd year of water polo. Three mornings a week they have 5:30am practices for 2 hours,

as well as 2 hours after school with 2 games a week. The last 3

weekends they have had tournaments (Friday evening and all day Saturday) playing about 5 games in those 2 days. I still don't get all the rules - it's crazy - but I love watching them play. It's a

great game and every second is exciting! They come home completely exhausted and starving every night. This Sunday, October 7th, these two are receiving their Eagle Awards. It's definitely a great accomplishment ... 4 down and 1 to go!

Yesterday Corey was in Boise for a job interview with Horizon and ... he got the job! Before this week is over he'll have his solo pilot's license (he's already been flying by himself all over Oregon) and will be moving to Boise in a couple weeks. He'll continue with his flight training there, as well as doing school on-line like he's been doing since early September. Things are moving forward, slowly but surely but it's all good.

Brady is home - it's been a difficult, rough month for him and all of us and we're trying to get our old Brady back. He's doing alright and working hard on healing. He sees a counselor twice a week and that's been so helpful for him. This guy happens to be LDS and is great. We just want Brady to get better, inside and out, and feel better about everything that has happened. Thank you all for your prayers and good thoughts. Keep em' comin' - he's an amazing young man.

Basically, we think our boys are awesome and we really are so proud of all of them and the good things they're accomplishing. I've definitely earned every gray hair on my head though!

Summiting Mt. Hood

On May 10th, Craig, Brady, Jacob, Jordan and a four other men/boys from our ward, climbed Mt. Hood (11,239 feet high). They had two previous dates and had to cancel because of weather and May 10th turned out to be a perfect day for them.

They got up at 1:30 am that morning and Craig called me at 8:15am from the top! Descending was quite difficult but they got to Timberline Lodge around 1:00pm. Nothing like climbing Mt. Everest but quite an accomplishment all the same.

There were 3 deaths up there in December and I did have some worries - over half my family was up there! but everyone arrived home safely.

I'm hearing little bits every day about their adventure - they did have a few scary moments but as they have rested and realized what they accomplished, I think they are (and should be) quite proud of themselves!

Brady, Jacob and Jordan have no plans to do this again but Craig is thinking about climbing Mt. Adams in the Fall (which is the mountain you see in the background). I'm afraid he's addicted now!

I'm quite content in my little Troutdale... elevation 150 feet above sea level!

PS: I apologize for the layout of the blog. Every time I do this, I realize why I don't do it very often. It never works right for me!

Are any of you bloggers out there LOST fans? Who says that TV can't bring a family closer together?! :) We love LOST. When the new season started in February, I woke up to LOST pancakes, courtesy of Jordan! Pretty great, huh? (we had to take a picture) Any thoughts about last nights episode?
Spring is coming to Oregon too - we don't have all that rain for nothin'! It's beautiful with the pink and white and yellow blossoms popping out everywhere. It's been a long, gray winter.
All is well here for us. Corey is busy with ACN and doing great with it. Call him if you are interested...(971.998.5381)! Brady's mission papers are being mailed in the next few days. He was ordained an Elder last Sunday and we had the honor of having Uncle Army stand in the circle too. He was here playing in a raquetball tourney and got a Gold in the doubles! What a guy.
Jacob and Jordan are sooooo close to having all their Scout stuff done. We should be having a double Eagle Court of Honor VERY soon! Only one more son to go! Logan is in basketball right now (Craig's the coach) and he made the winning hoop last game. Awesome! (and a happy ride home in the car). He plays the French Horn and loves that too.
I'm going Snow Caving tomorrow with the YW in our ward! I've been before and helped talk the girls into doing it. Most of the dads have never done it but Craig, Corey and a couple other men are helping out. This ought to be interesting! I've been learning a lot about teenage girls during the past year that I've been in the YW - mostly though, I've learned that I'm really thankful I have boys!
That's it here ~
Happy Spring!

Just wanted to share a few photos of Emily on her wedding day. We were able to go to Florida and share this special occasion with her - a very happy day!
Doesn't Bud look handsome and happy with his baby girl? It was tough to get through the ceremony without tears - of joy for Emmy and of sadness for missing Brittany.
We had a great trip and were able to go to Brittany's 'spot' at Oak Hills Cemetery. We were able to laugh and cry as we talked about her with Bud. I'm so glad we were able to go (7 free round trip tickets, thanks to Corey!)

Our Christmas Wishes

Well I guess it's my turn to add my "two-cents worth" to our blog. Up until now Bonnie has been carrying me and she told me it was time to step up the the plate. Thus I make my initial entry to "the Rust of the story."

I was looking at this picture yesterday after I got home from church and thought to myself, "you are one lucky guy!" How blessed we are to have terrific kids and how thankful I am that they don't think we're half bad parents.

As you can see, we made the annual visit to our favorite place to cut a Christmas tree down. It doesn't take us long to pick one out because over the years we learned that there is only one opinion that ultimately counts on which one we get and that's the mothers! I must say though that Bonnie has never done us wrong and they always look beautiful. As we sat in the living room last night looking at our tree, I realized that it is somewhat of a living history for us. There are ornaments from our childhood, ornaments from Grandma Gray or Aunt Julie who continued the tradition for them., and ornaments from places that we've visited (a budha ornament from Thailand even)! Lots and lots of memories!

As we think about the Christmas season on behalf of all of us up here in the Northwest, we want to wish you all a Merry Christmas. With that, I share a story for thought.

"Christmas is for love. It is for joy, for giving and sharing, for laughter, for reuniting with family and friends, for tinsel and brightly decorated packages. But mostly, Christmas is for love.

"Mark was an 11 year old orphan who lived with his aunt, a bitter middle aged woman greatly annoyed with the burden of caring for her dead sister's son. She never failed to remind young Mark, if it hadn't been for her generostiy, he would be a vagrant, homelss waif. Still, with all the scolding and chilliness at home, he was a sweet and gentle child.

"I had not noticed Mark particularly unti he bagan to staying after class each day (at the risk of arousing his aunt's anger, I later found) to help me straighten up the room. We did this quietly and comfortably, not speaking much, but enjoying the solitude of that hour of day. When we did talk, Mark spoke mostly of his mother. Though he was quite small when she died, he remembered a kind, gentle, loving woman, who always spent much time with him.

"As Christmas drew near however, Mark failed to stay after school each day. I looked forward to his coming and when the days passed and he continued to scamper hurriedly from the room after class, I stopped him one afternoon and asked why he no longer helped me in the room. I told him how I had missed him and his large gray eyes lit up eagerly as he replied, 'Did you really miss me?'

"I explained how he had been my best helper. 'I was making you a surprise,' he whispered confidentially. 'It's for Christmas.' With that, he became embarrassed and dashed from the room. He didn't stay after school any more after that.

"Finally came the last school day before Christmas. Mark crept slowly into the room late that afternoon with his hands concealing something behind his back. 'I have your present,' he said timidly when I looked up. 'I hope you like it.' He held out his hands, and there lying in his small palms was a tiny wooden box.

"'It's beautiful, Mark. Is there something in it.' I asked opening the top to look inside.

"'Oh you can't see what's in it,' he replied, 'and you can't touch it or taste it or feel it, but mother always said it makes you feel good all the time, warm on cold nights and safe when you're all alone.'

"I gazed into the the empty box. 'What is it Mark,' I asked gently, 'that will make me feel so good?' 'It's love,' he whispered softly, 'and mother always said it's best when you give it away.' And he turned and quietly left the room.

"So now I keep a small box crudely made of scraps of wood on the piano in my living room and only smile as inquiring friends raise quizzical eyebrows when I explain to them that there is love in it.

"Yes, Christmas is for gaiety, mirth and song, for good and wondrous gifts. But mostly, Christmas is for love."

`Author Unknown

May all of our boxes be filled with love this Christmas season!

Craig, Bonnie and the boys!

We sure have a lot to be thankful for, don't we? And by 'we', I mean all of us.
I hope everyone had a delicious day yesterday - we spent the afternoon with Craig's family. It's always a great meal and Grandma Red always sends us home with some interesting leftovers.
If you've ever had Craig's rolls, leftovers are hard to come by. Grandma saved 7 for us (1 for each) and 5 were gone before we got home! She also sent 1/2 of an applie pie, some carrots and a bunch of kiwi from their garden. They picked 345 kiwi this season!!! We also got 2 jars of homemade grape juice...yes, from their garden. The Rust garden is a sight of beauty, especially when we get to reap what they sow! All summer we were supplied with fresh green beans and zuchini too. Definitely something to be thankful for!
No early morning crazy shopping for us. Craig usually goes just to look around (he's nuts) and I've gone once, about 12 years ago. I hated it.
Today is the big 'Civil War' football game between the Oregon State Beavers and the Oregon Ducks. We have a divided family so it's always a bit tense! Craig made bbq chicken wings - full tummys help any situation.
I finished re-painting my red wall the other day. It's been 9 years and I didn't realize how much it had dulled. It's bright and cheery now and ready for Christmas.
We'll go cut our Christmas tree down next Saturday and I'm getting all the stuff out tomorrow. I have two church events at my house this season so it gives me an excuse to get it all ready early!
Go Ducks!
Go Beavs! (i'm the mom so i have to be neutral)

Does anybody recognize this suit?! A couple years before Grandpa Smurth died, we were visiting him and he insisted that Craig take a couple of his suits. We got this beige beauty and a yellow pinstriped classic - even the hat is a grandpa hat. Pretty cool. Both suits have come in handy as costumes over the years and since they weigh about 10 pounds each (no kidding!), they have kept the boys warm on our windy and cold Halloween nights. The briefcase was Logan's candy bag and he did good, bringing home some of my faves... Reese's, Hot Tamales and Smarties!
Next time you all see Jordan, be sure to congratulate him (or something like that). He and a friend volunteered (and caved to 'brother' pressure), to run down the street in their Speedos on Halloween night! It was definitely a moment frozen in time and I think Jordan earned some respect from his brothers that night. Please tell me some of you uncles and cousins did crazy things like this when you were a teenager????
I might as well tell you about Brady and his friends - they have an ape costume and an old man mask (very creepy) and they just casually terrorized the neighborhood scaring everyone - the parents liked it alright but the kids got scared (duh). Then, these guys climbed on our roof and chucked giant marshmallows at everyone who came to our door! The next morning there were tons of soggy marshmallows on the front lawn. THEN, they came in the house and gave out candy at the door, with the old man mask on - staring down these adorable kids as they walked up the front steps. I guess kids will go through anything to get free candy!!I
I figured since the rest of you were sharing your Halloween stories, I would share mine too. Your cute little superman boys and princess girls will be all grown up before you know it! Then - you'll understand my world, maybe just a little bit! :)

Ahhh - the joys of living with a bunch of teenage boys.