We are Still Here!

Yes, the King Family is still here and all is well!  I am a horrible blogger and admitting my faults.  Thank goodness Tracy keeps a daily journal because my 6 month posts are not so great.  Here is the update:
Creighton graduated, moved to Logan and finally has 2 jobs.  Do not ask him about the first one or he will give you a 3-4 minute survey about your Honda that you recently had serviced.  He is also working for Old Navy.  He loves living on his own and any girl who offers to cook for him.  We have some great friends that moved to Logan a few years ago that are taking great care of him.  I think their 4 year old would love to be his girlfriend.
Cambree is having a great summer!  She has a great group of friends and has had fun with all of them.  She discovered (and so did I) that Dad has a jet ski and thinks the river is the place to be.  I decided to sign her up for a dance camp 2 weeks ago, last week was Stake Girls Camp (the best ever!!!!) and she and Ken are at CSI camp this week.  She also started a business this summer and is renting a bounce house. (Her little sisters love this idea.)
Kennadee has been dancing all summer.  She and some of her friends are BHS Stepperettes, the school dance team.  Every day in June, she was at practice at 7am with a smile.  I think she has had a great time.  She went to Utah for camp in June.  She loved Girls camp and is also at CSI this week for dance camp.  She gets to be Clara in the Fair parade before she hands the crown to someone else.
Kayson is Kayson.  He would like to hibernate in the basement but we do make him come out.  He loves bountiful baskets and eats all the fruit before it has a chance to even ripen.  He is still going to Pocatello on Mondays and the shop to work on Thursday mornings.  He just got back from Camp Bradley where he earned 5 1/2 merit badges.  The half was canoeing.  He was doing great until someone told him there were leeches in the water.  He never saw one or got back in to find out.
Kaia is doing great.  She is feeling better with only a few down days.  She and Kes have been taking Swimming lessons for a month.  They are turning into fish!  She can do a round off, back tuck.  She has been playing baseball and has had a great time.  She LOVES to bat and is a great little hitter.  She thinks the batting cage is amazing.  She played in the longest game (according to Mom) ever!  She has finally decided her hair is pretty cool and left it natural.  She also discovered the joy of Coconut Oil for her skin (so did everyone in the house and it ain't cheap).
Kestle' keeps us hopping.  She loves everything and everyone.  She almost misses Creighton.  She has loved swimming lessons especially the cute teacher!  She is just like a hurricane, leaving a swath of destruction wherever she goes.  She is getting big enough that no one offers to help her in the recovery phase now.  All the girls did a little summer dance workshop, but Kes loved it most because she finally got to take JAZZ.  She is so much fun but so temperamental that one minute your laughing and the next teaching everyone how to count to 10.
Tracy got to go to girls camp with the stake and had a fabulous time.  He is still running his 7 miles every other day and currently has no aches and pains.  Nothing much changes in his life, go to work, go to meetings, hang out with us.  He wouldn't want it any other way.
I am dreading summer being over.  I know we're just past halfway but it seems it's all downhill from here.  I have sat at the pool with the girls and am currently sporting a fabulous knee tan. I have run kids from one thing to another.  I really don't think I have accomplished much else this summer. 

Mono is Stupid

Here we are one year later and Mono is still stupid.  The word is dumb and the disease is worse.  Yes, Kaia is basically starting over.  She slept through her birthday and was again diagnosed the next day.  Only good thing is we know what to do even if we just did it a year ago.

It's Only an Hour

We went to the Christmas Devotional tonight.  Tracy announced we were leaving in about 15 minutes and anyone who wanted to go should be ready.  (After the fiasco we had a couple of years ago, our optional limit for this has weakened) Immediately we had a taker, Kestle'. Yeah, I think.  The rest of my children reverted into hermit crab mode.
Mom: Well, you have to wear a dress.
Kes:  OKAY! Can I wear the one I wore to church?
       (DANG! That didn't work)
We the proceeded to guilt a few others into coming with us. No nylons required and you can drive over on your own seconds before it starts.
Kes could not wait.  She was in her dress and in the car before anyone could talk her out of it.
She loved the count down until the broadcast starts.  Every 10 seconds, she would ask how much longer.  When the screen went black 30 seconds before it began, she asked with a shudder of excitement, "How much longer?"  I leaned over an told her after it started it would be about an hour. Her reply,"What the heck am I doing here then?" 

Choices

Today I dropped Kayson off at scouts and gave him the normal goodbye,"Have fun, be good and make good choices!"
He replied with a straight face, "Is cake a good choice?"
That boy makes me laugh!

We Are Still Here

Snow day #1 (Tuesday) was a wonderful, lazy day.
Snow day # 2 (Wednesday) was a little more active.  I was trying to clean the house for Thanksgiving and someone got the great idea that with all the kids home, we could easily put up Christmas decorations and get the boxes put away.  Yes I decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving.  It was lovely!  Christmas on the walls and harvest on the tables.
Snow day # 3 (Monday)  was out of control.  After a week together, Kes was ready to send the kids to school and I must say I almost agreed with her.  We got our week long break for Thanksgiving but were tired of being couped up in the house. 
Creighton was ready to go to school on Tuesday, Nov 30.  His application for BYU was due on the 1st and the school had not sent his transcripts.
I am also bragging, he made the semi-finalists for the Coca-Cola scholarship.   The downside was the 3 essays.  He will find out more in February.  Every penny counts.

SNOW

It is all I can do to get my kids in bed tonight.  Snow is falling, there is a blizzard warning for tonight, the Idaho State Police have asked that schools cancel tomorrow and the remote thought that they may not have to go is killing them.  Kaia looks out side every 2 minutes for the update.  Tracy is still out on the wrecker.  But, honestly, I think Mom wants a snow day tomorrow worse than the kids.  There is nothing better than sleeping in and knowing you don't have anywhere to be because you CAN'T be there.  Here's hoping!

Kestle's Work update

Today, Tracy called and asked Kes if she wanted to haul tin.  For those of you who don't know what this is,  our kids go to the shop and load the tin, bent car parts on the wrecker.  They hate this part.  It is alot of work!  However, they then take it to the recycling place and have it weighed.  They pay by the pound and sometimes they can make some good money for the vacation fund.  When Kes got there, Tracy already had it loaded.  She has been to the shop quite a few afternoons lately.  One of the guys teased her about how her Dad never gave her a day off.  They dropped off the tin and came home after work.
Tonight, Kes told Cambree Dad had paid her because she never got any time off.  We laughed, thought it was cute. She then proceeded to pull out $65 out of her pocket!  Yep, Dad paid me