One Year Later.....

I took a whole year off. I guess I really have no good excuse, but I need to start recording our family story again. Not that we have a particularly exciting story to tell, but because I want to remember. I want to remember the little things that happen in our day to day living along with the bigger events that shape our lives. The kids often ask me about things they did as babies or even several years ago and sadly, I often can't remember. After five kids, things are kind of a blur sometimes and I wish I remembered more. Scrapbooks tell mostly the big stuff - the first days of school, holidays and other special events, but I think, if I can get better, blogging will help to capture those moments that you may not be able to photograph, but are worth remembering.

So, here I go. I'll try to not be an annoying blogger. I'll try to paint a true picture of my family, so when we look back to answer those questions like, "who was that girl that lived in the next building who always wanted to ride my Big Wheel?" we just might be able to check out the blog and answer that question.

A Little Summer Service

The kids and I had fun sharing a morning with some friends visiting an Assisted Living Center in Plano. Molly played the piano, Lucy sang with her guitar and helped personalize shadow boxes for a resident.  Will helped give out cupcakes we made to share with the residents.  We made some new friends, shared our talents and left with a good feeling in our hearts for having cheered someone's day.

Molly visited with this delightful lady.

Lucy brought her friends Deanna and Katie along and worked on shadow boxes the residents have outside their doors.

This reminds me of a hymn we sometimes sing.  Maybe we should sing it more often.  The message is a simple reminder to me to do better....

Have I Done Any Good?

Have I done any good in the world today?

Have I helped anyone in need?

Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad?

If not I have failed indeed!

Has anyone's burden been lighter today

Because I was willing to share? 

Have the sick and the weary been helped on their way?

When they needed my help was I there?

Then wake up and do something more

Than dream of your mansion above.

Doing good is a pleasure, a joy beyond measure

A blessing of duty and love.

A BIG Weekend!

Part One:

Our family celebrated two milestones recently.  Our second child, Drew, was married in the Dallas Texas Temple to Rachel Shirey, and my parents, Mary Anne and Barrie Best celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary!  I don't think Drew and Rachel chose March 28th because it was his grandparents wedding day, but it was a wonderful excuse to extend the celebration!

The fun started with the arrival of my parents on Monday.  Ashley, Sam and Parker arrived on Wednesday, the rest of the family (both on my side and Jon's) arrived on Thursday and Friday.

The first event of the weekend was the wedding dinner we hosted for both families (Drew's and Rachel's) at Randy White's BBQ in Frisco.  We had lots to eat, including delicious Texas Sheet cake which was made by two of Karen's wonderful friends. (Yes, I delegated!)

Rachel and Drew 

Drew's side:

Rachel's side:

We had cute Mason Jar flower arrangements on the tables, just to brighten things up a bit!  Thanks, Mom for helping put them together.  I think the beans are a fun touch.

We presented Rachel with a a bucket full of items that will come in handy as a member of the Scholl family! Popcorn and M&Ms (to be eaten together), Phase 10 cards, an ice cream scoop, a toy airplane (to get her warmed up to flying in small planes),  a pancake mold for making pancakes in cool shapes, and more!

It's really wonderful to have so much family together in one place!  We had such a great time visiting with everyone.  

Three of four generations there that night for Marillyn!

Family Portrait Session

A few days before Christmas, while everyone was home, we ventured outside for a family portrait.  Since Texas isn't the most beautiful spot on the planet in December, we had a difficult time deciding on a location.  We ended up in Downtown McKinney, which has a darling little square full of boutiques and antique stores.  I've only seen a few of the shots so far, but will go next week for a look at all of them.  The photographer (Marquette) who took our great shots last year couldn't take us during the time we were all together, so she referred us to her friend Angela Majerus! Angela was great to squeeze us in at Christmas time and spend 2 hours with us.  We had so much fun laughing and playing around.  She posted a preview on her blog. (click on the word blog to see it) There are some cute shots.  I especially LOVE the ones of my wonderful parents. They look amazing and are in such great health.  I'm so glad they came along! Take a look, if you'd like.  I can't wait to see them all.

Family Fun!

We had the BEST family vacation.  We took Drew, Lucy, Will and Molly to the British Virgin Islands and chartered a catamaran for a WEEK.  It was super sweet. We flew to Tortola and picked up the boat and a really nice skipper named Patrick.  We spent the next seven days sailing around to other islands - all pretty small, but WOW were they beautiful.  The kids were great - they had fun snorkeling, jumping and diving off the bow of the boat, swimming with the fishes and playing on beautiful white sand beaches.  Bummer, huh? The water was the most gorgeous shade of blue, the weather was great and the stars were AMAZING. No TV, no radio, no texting, no video games, no phone, just US.  We laughed and read and played cards.  Karen even cooked most of the meals in the galley!  Jon grilled for us on a grill that hung off the stern.  We loved every second of it!  Here are just a few of the pictures...

Jennifer's Wedding

I was fortunate to be able to attend our niece Jennifer Thompson's wedding in September. (Yep, I'm just now blogging about it - sue me.) Ashley and Parker were there, and since my family lives in Oregon and Washington it was a great time to pay a short visit to them as well!

Jennifer was radiant. And Michael looked pretty happy too! Now they are Mr. and Mrs. Rogers.

Just about the whole family was there. Jon planned to attend with me, but at the last minute he had to cancel because of work and weather issues. But I had a great time catching up with Jon's side of the family.

Rob and Vicki
Jim, Terri and Christa
David and Solveig
Tod
Marillyn (Jon's Mom) with Ashley
Stephen
Madison - Scott was there too, but I somehow didn't get him in a photo!
Diane and Gary (with Rob and Vicki again)
Carollyn taking a photo of Howard and Judy (my only shot of them!)

The wedding was wonderful and I had a great time!  Especially holding Parker!

Parker was so dapper!  

It was a great chance for the cousins to spend some time together. (That's Bryan in the middle)

I stayed with my parents for a couple days and had a great time visiting some of the sights with them.  We stopped by the Wilkes and saw Leigh Anne, Jim and Tessa.  We went to the Farmer's Market on Saturday and had so much fun.  I wish there was a great market like that in Dallas....

The food was great!

The eggplant was amazing...

Purple peppers!

Grandma and Grandpa Best got to spend some time with Parker and Ashley.  Parker performed well!

Rich and Tracy invited us up to their house in Longview for dinner.  We talked and laughed for hours!  The boys are so grown up and fun to be around!

Drew and Spencer

Rich performed on the trumpet for us....or was it for that bottle of Windex?

Spencer was excited to go for a ride in the Hummer II. So we took a picture for him!

Parker loved Uncle Rich!

It was also really, really, really great to spend time with Parker.  I took lots of photos.  Here's a slideshow of my favorites.

It was a great trip!  I would have loved to stay longer. Hopefully we'll get some visitors in Texas soon.  I think it's time....

Oshkosh Continued.....

I guess some of you may be asking, "What IS Oshkosh?"  Well, it's a city in Wisconsin, but one week a year the Experimental Aircraft Association hosts a ginormous air show where people from all over the world gather to.....well, to do what airplane people do!  There are vendors selling their airplane related stuff, exhibits of the old and new airplanes, classes, workshops, food, entertainment and more.  Molly said it best when she said, "People in Oshkosh are OBSESSED with airplanes!"  

There's a really great museum there.  We had a great time there:

Lucy isn't in any of these photos because she was off on her own adventure with the "Women Soar" conference where she did cool stuff like build wing ribs, learn to weld and hear great women speakers. She had a great time.

It's a ROAD TRIP.......Flying Style!

I began this post way back in July - actually in Oshkosh, but the internet connection there was such a pain, that I never got it finished and well - since then have had a few other things on my plate.  Anyway, here's some more catching up!

We are off on our first family flight (alliteration coincidental)!  We left Aero Country Airport in McKinney, Texas on Saturday morning, July 26th.  The newly restored Cessna 195 was well packed with Will, Molly and Lucy in the back seat and the baggage compartment filled!  We were all excited to get going.  The kiddos were all high tech with headsets hooked up to the seatback DVD system. 

  

Everyone was really excited - even ME!  I guess I'm getting used to this flying stuff. Despite the headset and "air-conditioning" doing a number on my hair, it's a pretty comfortable ride. I didn't get a picture of Jon in the pilot seat, but he looked very pilot-like and official.  With charts ready, we headed north for Wisconsin!

We made a stop to wait out a bit of weather in Ft. Smith, Arkansas.  There was a nice FBO (that's pilot-talk for an airport rest stop) with a lounge where we read, used the computer and lounged about.  We also had lunch in town at Paradise Bakery.  

The pilot lounge was a good spot for a family photo, complete with props from Will.  Thanks, buddy!  

We got on our way again after Lunch and after a while I was looking out the window and saw this:

Just under the wing I see this white building and I say to Jon, "Hey, that looks like a temple! Where are we?" So we checked the map, and sure enough, we're above Nauvoo, Illinois! And that is a temple! So we circle the town and got a little closer look.  

We determined we needed to come back and spend some time in Nauvoo.  It's not a bad flight and there's an airport right outside the town.  We even considered stopping on the way home, but it will most likely be a Monday, and none of the Church historical sites are open on Monday! Bummer.  It was really fun to see it from the air, though.  It's a beautiful temple.

We decided to stop not too far from Oshkosh for the night so we could fly into the air show early in the morning and avoid the traffic.  So we stopped in beautiful Juneau, Wisconsin and stayed in the AmericInn.  After a fun time at Applebee's for dinner, Will and Molly went for a swim.

 

The next morning we were up early and with our matching t-shirts we headed off for Oshkosh!  The whole landing process was very organized (a huge number of airplanes fly into Oshkosh during the air show, making it the busiest airport on earth for that week) and it was much easier than we anticipated.  We were guided to the Vintage Airplane area and then to the Cessna 195 parking.  Everyone was glad to be there!  It was a long flight from Texas.  We were ready for some FUN!