To remember...

Today is a day that causes people to remember. We all know where we were when we heard about the catastrophe just as an older generation remembers where they were when they heard of JFK's assassination.

But, I have trouble remembering what I did yesterday let alone 11 years ago on a certain date. So, inspired by a pin on Pinterest, I made a journal I am determined to keep.

I took a decorative cardboard box with metal corners, sanded the rust from the corners and polyurethaned them, painted the box white, then laid doilies over the box and spray painted it. I cut scrapbook paper to 5" X 8" and stamped the date on each paper.

I record my happenings for the day, then move to the next card with the next date for the next day. Next year, I will stamp 2013 on all the cards and record a few sentences for each day. Eventually I will be able to pick a date at random and read what I did on that day for the past several years. At least that's the idea...

Earthquake, thunder, or huge planes overhead?

None of the above!! Last Wednesday I sat in my kitchen with two of my SILs--Kim & Rebecca. As we were talking, out of the blue we heard a loud booming. Becca thought it was an earthquake and rushed out the back door. Kim thought the kids had busted something upstairs and went to the stairs. I thought it could be thunder but it was just too close and inconsistent sounding. My next thought was huge bomber planes flying over Gilmer like in the movies--yeah right, an earthquake is more likely. I bolted to the front door and flung it open only to walk into this practically on my front porch:

As the three of us entered the front yard to inspect the damage our mouths just dropped. We were in total and utter shock. We made sure the kids weren't crushed underneath--they were in the playroom--and just walked around the tree over and over. Phone calls were made, neighbors walked over, people slowed as they passed on the road. A spectacle it was. We still don't know how old the tree was because as you can see from the pictures, the tree is still as tall as the house. Guesses range from 60 to 100 years. Apparently, the top of the tree split into two main branches which, in the joint, had begun to rot and hollow. The two halves just fell away landing on opposite sides. Unfortunately, one side fell on the house. There are holes in the roof, but only in the garage. Because Isaac was sending rain our way, we scrambled to get the roof cleared and holes covered. We have a friend who came over and with Becca and Ben, patched the roof well enough to hold us over until it can be repaired. We also had people come out Saturday for a miraculous clean up effort. At one point we had about thirty people, not including kids, that helped chain saw, split wood, haul branches off in trailers, and rake leaves. It. Was. Amazing. My heart was full of gratitude. We began at seven in the morning and everyone but family was gone by eleven thirty.

There are a few positives to the tree falling: 1. We have a ton of firewood for next year, 2. I can now grow flowers on my front porch-sunlight! 3. My fall raking will be dramatically reduced. Even with these things, I am still quite upset about losing the tree. It was a majestic oak and really added to the front yard. Oh well--no use crying over a fallen tree!

Back in the habit...

Reunited!!

When we left Hutto in September of 2008 I wasn't sure we'd see the Dayton family again. Natalie and I were pretty close and it seemed like I was always hanging out at her house. When she asked if they could 'layover' at our house on their way back to Hutto from a vacation, Ben and I were so excited! Our kids didn't remember each other but that didn't stop them from playing hard!

It was soooo fun to visit and catch up. We can't let another four years go by next time!!

After all these Dodds, we needed some Leppert time!

The kids and I spent a few days with Chris and his kids in McKinney. We ate at Torchy's Taco, played Kinect, fed Oliver stuff he didn't like, built Star Wars Starships and castles, and had cupcakes. We had a great time!!

The Over Cautious Child is Really a Daredevil??

We are lake people now...

We're A Real American Family Now!

We've made our first trip to Yellowstone!

I wonder if my kids will ever learn all their cousins' names...

Top Row: Joe's family; ALL THE FAMILY (Don't ask me why my family & Mark's family are separated from everyone else. You'd think the photographer would have mentioned that...); Sarah's family;
Second Row: John, Mark, Aaron's families;
Third Row: Paul, Laura, Ben's families;
Last Row; Jacob & Mallory; Melvin & Linda with their 12 children; Daniel, Sarah, & Lincoln.

Though most everyone is smiling, I can assure you, tempers were flaring prior to the shutter button clicks!! Next time, we've got to hire someone to do this!!

2012 Dodd Reunion in Lava Hot Springs

We reached Lava Hot Springs, ID on Tuesday July 17 and stayed until Saturday. There were a lot of us. At one point, all of Linda & Melvin's living children were in attendance and it was a few hours of utter chaos. To be honest, most of the reunion was utter chaos, but entertaining nonetheless.
At and around the cabin:

Clockwise from top left: Caleb and some Dodd kids on a hike outside the cabin; Ammon on the stairs from the basement; McKenzie with Stinkin Lincoln and Sarah; a whole lotta Dodds in a not-big-enough-for-60+-people-cabin living room; Tayeden, Tenille, & Adalie; little Dodd boys; MORE little Dodd boys in the basement of the cabin; Dodds on the porch; HERE are some GIRLS!!-Taveah, McKenzie, and Kayley; Connor, Caleb, Michael, and Ben. Center top to bottom: more Dodds listening to Melvin; Danny, Cate, and Spencer.

The Portneuf River runs through Lava Hot Springs. You can tube the river and there is also a water park next alongside. Floating the river with a ton of people was awesome! We'd all link up and try to stay together. Can you just picture 20 Dodds--kids and adults--all screaming and twisting around in tubes scrambling for hands and ankles of one another? We set up a 'camp' at a good site to pull the kids out--they'd walk up the river a ways, hop in and float down to us where we'd pull them out and they'd do it all over again. Though the cabin wasn't ideal for all of us, floating the river was perfect!

Clockwise from top left: Jacob going over the first waterfall; our camp; Ben, Connor, & me starting at the top of the river--it took about 10 minutes to float all the way back to our camp; pulling out of the river; Ben going down the first fall; my family and Taveah; some Dodds at the top of the river below the two falls; John getting Connor out--he was the only one of my kids brave enough to do the whole river; Center: Ben, Connor, Peyton, and Joe getting ready to go down one of the slides at the water park.

Will I ever finish posting pics from our vacation?

These two sets of pics are from our time with the family before reaching Lava Hot Springs, ID for the 'official' reunion.

Clockwise from top left: Connor and a bow & arrow, some Dodds in Paul's basement watching the video of their last trip to Lava Hot Springs, ID in 1994, Ben with Calais & Danny, Linc the Stink & yours truly, Kim & Stinkin Lincoln (we both hogged him the whole night--we were so excited to see him since Daniel & Sarah moved back to UT in April), Will & Spencer.

The Assembly Hall on Temple Square, The Tabernacle, some Dodds causing a ruckus, Salt Lake Temple, my family in the Assembly Hall, The Christus Statue in the Visitor's Center.

*fuzzy photos courtesy of my iPod

Dodds Invade BYU

Our first Saturday of vacation, we gathered with a few fellow Dodds and headed to BYU campus. We did some fun things but the most memorable of course involved an officer of the law. Those always seem to pop up when Dodds congregate...

Apparently the BYU field has sensors that alert the police when movement is detected. A cop pulled up and told some of the adults "people get arrested for stunts like this". Awesome. What a way to start a vacation!! As you can tell by the picture, the guy was pretty cool and probably loved the flattery oozing from three Dodd brothers and their dad. Another story for the books!!

Getting Good Use Out of Mom & Dad's Investments...

My family comes from the north--Lepperts, from Indianapolis. Dad's youngest brother brought his two kids, and my cousin and her hubby came with them. We 'laked' their whole visit. This included learning to ski for some, tubing, fishing, and a lot of swimming.

Kids Just Wouldn't Love Me If It Weren't for Pinterest...

Birthday Fest 2012

If you know anything about the Lepperts, you probably know that from 2004 to 2006, our parents had two children and one grandchild--what makes our family unique is that fact that those two kids and one grandkid all share the same birthday--June 16. This year, we got to spend it together.

It was a special birthday for Caleb because he turned eight. In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a child who attends church can choose to be baptized at the age of eight--an age where they are supposed to have the ability to choose between wrong and right and so on. This also qualified him to begin attending Cub Scouts. He was excited about both events!

School's Out!!!

Wait...that was three weeks ago. We've been fairly busy so far, but here are their last day of school pictures.

The Dodds start them young...

Last Saturday we went to Hallsville to attend an All Comers Track Meet.

 

Long Jump:

Connor didn't place.

Caleb placed second.

 

800 M

Caleb placed first, Connor placed second!

I can't believe the speed and agility of these young kids. It was fun to watch!!

An Interview with a Six Year Old

 

1.          Who is your best friend? Jarom   

2.          What is/are some of your hobbies? Play basketball

3.          What is your favorite animal? horse

4.          What is your favorite food? hamburger

5.          What is your favorite dessert? brownie

6.          What do you like to do with your family? Go to Jason’s Deli

7.          What do you want to be when you grow up? football player

8.          What makes you happy? When I get to eat gum

9.          What makes you sad? When I have to stand on the wall at recess

10.     What is your favorite movie? Hugo

11.     What is your favorite book? Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

12.     What was the best part of your b-day? When I got to open up presents

13.     What do you like to wear? Polo shirts and khaki shorts

14.     If you could go anywhere for vacation where would you go? To the beach

15.     What is your favorite game to play? checkers

16.     What is your favorite sport to play? football

17.     What is your favorite team to watch? Buckeyes

18.     What is your favorite thing about school? recess

19.     If you had $100 what would you buy? A new house for Mom

20.     What is something that happened to you this year that you hope you never forget? That my cousins Taye and them came to Texas

Futball 2012

Do all moms think their kids are the best at everything? If so, at least I'm doing something right as a mom!

Why Doesn't Instagram Upload to Blogger??

You know how when you get a new toy and you are obsessed with it and use it like crazy for the first little while? Well, that's happened to me with my iPod. I've wanted an iPhone for a while and maybe--because he will never, ever, get me one--Ben decided to get me an iPod instead. I use it a lot to take pictures because I am in looove with Instagram. The edits are so vintage-y and neat and they look awesome on the actual iPod. Once I load them onto my computer though, it's a different story--they're a much lower quality than a regular camera. The last few weeks I've gotten a few good pictures of us here and there.

Top Row: Cate & Claire playing dress up, Cate & Oliver (Chris, Taylor, Claire and Oliver now live two hours and 15 minutes away!!!! Cate and I went and spent a night there last week), Cate rolling downhill in our yard.

Middle Row: The kids out at the lake house, Copper, Caleb doing a flip on a swing at the lake house.

Bottom Row: Connor's turn on the swing, the long staircase up to the lake house from the lake, the kids playing soccer in the yard at home.

And by the way, does Instagram upload to Blogger?? I looked it up once and didn't find anything so I assume it doesn't. It would be easier to blog if it did...