Well, my efforts to keep things more current on the blog, have not gone as well as I would have liked.
I've tried, but it doesn't seem to be working in my favor.
I had Rex's sister snap a quick family picture for us... I wanted to have something more recent. Don't we all look like were having fun!!
Brayden is planning to move to California, he is going to be staying with my friend Tammera, and working for her. He is the store manager at Panera Bread. It should be a nice change for him. Inside out of the weather, and not hared manual labor... however he has never been one to bake anything, so it should be an adventure.
It is going to be weird having him that far away, but I'll live
Rex's trip to Florida was postponed until the 24th, so he is here for another week, which is nice, but one more week with not work is hard.
I'm just happy to have him here.
I've been working on a new adventure, I've started broadcasting Josh's basketball games live on the internet. It is something that I've learned to do at work, and with Rex heading out to Florida, I thought it was a great way for him to be able to not miss out on seeing Josh play ball! So far it has been working well, I still have a few audio bugs to work out, but Its all coming together!
So oif your interested, check out ustream.com then search for oakerbasketball
It will tell you if there is a Live show or not... I think there is one recorded, but the quality isn't the greatest.
Anyway, it is fun and something new!

Well I'm a little late in putting up our pictures from Christmas day.. but figured, better late than never, right! Here is Our Christmas Tree Christmas morning!

We had a great Christmas! It was nice to be home together. I think that everyone enjoyed that things that were given to them. We kept things pretty small thins year. With Rex not having had work for a while, we were extra careful about what we got for the kids.
We were very lucky to find a like new Nintendo Wii, that a gal had bought for her husband in August, and he decided in October that he didn't like it. We got a great deal on it and the kids have been playing non stop since christmas morning! It has been alot of fun!

Rex was pretty surprised with the gift that I gave him. We had seen something like it a few years ago on a little trip he and I took. It was WAY to expensive to buy, but he loved it. I come across the train at the craft fair, and picked a really nice piece of wood to have it mounted on. It didn't look exactly the same, but it was pretty close, and he loved it!!


Josh Borrowed Rock band from one of his friends and the kids played that for quite a while. Talk about funny! It was a crack up watching them play!

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!
It looks like my time has gotten away from me.
Sorry for the long time since my last post.
I've been working alot, and when I'm not working, I'm at a basketball game!
Thats not a bad thing, I love watching the boys play, just takes alot of time.
Here's a few pictures.
Josh is really playing well, and Nathan has improved so much from last year!



We also had, what for us is a lot of snow... that was fun... I had to put chains on to get down the hill so I could go to work. The kids loved it, and I think it was a nice change for Rex to be home with them.
This is what it looked like off of the deck outside our bedroom.


I hope you all have a Wonderful Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!!!

WOW... What a weekend, It was the annual craft fair held at the fairgrounds. Andrea and I went with my friend Paulette and her daughter Katie. Katie and Andrea are in FFA together. I always love going and seeing all of the fun things that people make. The problem is, I always look at it and say "I could do that" and I'm sure that I could, but usually never find the time to. We saw some really nice bead work, and since Andrea is so great at that, we took lots of notes and stopped at Michael's on the way home and got some beads. Andrea made this necklace and ear-rings for me and a matching necklace for her. It looks sooo good! I wore it yesterday to church and today to work!




Josh had a basketball tournament, so he had a game Friday and Saturday night. I'm not as skilled at basketball photography as I would like to be, the game moves a little faster! I'll keep working at it. But for now here are a few pictures!



They won the tournament. Josh had 10 points in the second game and got his name in the paper!!! I just think that is the COOLEST thing, to see his name in the paper!
I'm excited for the first home pre-season game this Thursday. Nathan will have his first game. I hoping he will be playing more this year, he seems to be getting much better! So I'll be digging out my Blue "Superfan" shirt and cheering on my boys! Maybe I'll get some better pictures!

Well, I will admit that I'm pretty poor at this blog thing. I need to start carrying my little digital camera around so I can snap a shot when ever I need to, and not have to think, crud... I wish I had my camera.
We had a quiet day at home for Thanksgiving. Brayden came up for a couple hours, it was nice to see him. He doesn't just come up to hang out at home. I miss him.
For the first time in 20 years I cooked the turkey a little longer than it needed...
so it was a little dryer than I like it. But hey... that's what gravy is for right????



I've learned over the years not to get all stressed out about the BIG meal that everyone wolfs down in a matter of 10 minutes.
The kids tried to convince us to go the the movie, but Rex and I just wanted to stay home and relax! So we did!
For me it was just a nice day at home with my honey and kids. For whatever reason, I have been reflecting on how fast my kids have grown up. It seems impossible to me that Josh is a senior in high school. I was trying to salvage one of his basketball shoes the other night with some superglue, to no avail..we had to buy new shoes, and I was just looking at that BIG size 12 shoe, and wondering how that happened over night..... OK so maybe it just feels like overnight.
It makes me feel very grateful that I was able to stay home with all of them when they were little. And makes me not want to miss one minute of anything that they do now. I always knew that I wanted to be a mom and have lots of babies... but I guess I never really knew just how much joy that was going to bring me!



Last night they had a Mother Daughter achievement activity. So Mikayla and I went a made a gingerbread house... well it was actually a graham cracker house... it was fun to sit with her and frost it and put on the yummy candy! It's a good thing that I had someone take a picture, because as of this morning.. there is not much candy left on the house!!
Mikayla, is in such a funny stage right now. Kind of that goofy stage before girls really bloom...come on you all know what I mean... all kids, even boys go through that stage...where the are just goofy acting, and most of the time looking... it's just the stage. But they always end up being Beautiful and Handsome!!
And it is an adventure watching it happen!!!

So have I said before what amazing kids I have?? Oh yeah, I think I have.
Twice a year our high school has a blood drive. The Red Cross comes to the school and sets up there for the day. Last Tuesday, both Josh and AndreaK gave blood. Andrea vollenteered all day helping with the other students. This was her 3rd time and Joshua's 2nd time giving blood.
I would have NEVER considered donating blood when I was is high school.... heck no! I hate needles!
It is just another thing that I witness my kids doing that makes me sooo very proud of them, and the choices that they are making.
Hopefully I'll be getting some actual pictures of them giving blood for one of the councilers at school.

I am finally getting around to adding these pictures that I took the morning we were headed to Heppner OR for the playoff game. If you can believe it I was riding in the front seat of the truck! It was a beautiful view of the sun beaming through the clouds. I miss being able to take pictures like I used to, and really enjoy when I'm able to do it.