Star Raising Party

On August 31 we went up to Make a Wish for Cassidy's Star raising party. Cassidy had been asking me almost everyday when this party would take place. She was so excited and happy that she had a real hard time focusing at school. She kept telling all the kids about it.

They had the whole place decorated with Disney characters. Cassidy definitely has "Princess Power!"

Everyone was given a tour of Make a Wish and Cassidy opened the Wishing Room for everyone to see. This is the rainbow of Stars hanging from the ceiling. A star for every child who has had a wish granted.
Cassidy requested cake!

Because the party was a little short notice I wasn't able to invite everyone who I intended to and some were not able to attend but we had a good crew of some of the most special people in Cassidy's life. Thanks to everyone who was able to share in this special evening to honor Cassidy. I was kind of a scatter brain that night so I didn't do the greatest job at taking pictures and didn't get pictures of everyone with Cassidy like I should have. I didn't even get a picture of her with her grandma and grandpa. Seriously I think I should be fired sometimes.

Aunt Joanna with all her cute kids!

Aunt Natalie!

Cousin Leslie, Aunt Debbie, Aunt Laura and Great Aunt Wilma!

Cassidy got a beautiful purple star and wrote in gold "Cassidy, Hope, Shumway, 2010, Dad" with lots of hearts by it. Somebody must love their dad a whole lot!!!

Here we go! Up, up and away!
That purple star looks so beautiful up there with all the other stars and each star is unique just like each child.

Our good friend Andrea!

Our good friend Janeal and her husband Gary!

Dr. Brinton, who we will always consider our pediatrician even though she is now a mom and only works one day a week up at Primary Children's. She has been a support to us since Cassidy first got sick at 10 months old. Rare to find a Dr. who cares so much about their patients even after hours. We always beg her to come back but she is doing what is most important, raising a family.

Allie and Sherrie, Cassidy's Wish Granters.

We feel so blessed! Happy memories to help dull the pain of yesterday and to help us face the future with hope! Thank you Make a Wish for bringing such joy to Cassidy's life!

Back to School

I wasn't really that thrilled for school to start this year. Some would say I am crazy but I so enjoyed being home with my kiddies this summer. Not that we did anything spectacular but last summer was so awful that this summer just seemed like heaven in comparison. Plus with each new year I realize that my kids are just growing up to fast!

Megan started 6th grade. She has the same teacher as last year but she decided it was ok since some of her good friends are in the class this year. One more year in elementary school. Ugh! Don't remind me! I love my Megan!
Cassidy started 3rd grade. Her teacher is so sweet and never gets upset. Amazing! There are some tough personalities in Cassidy's grade. Cassidy has the best aide on the planet to help her. Oh who are we kidding? I do my best but some days are kinda hard. I enjoy being there to help Cassidy be safe and to stay up with the class. Cassidy likes to flirt with all the boys. That is for sure!

Logan is repeating Kindergarten this year. He has the same teacher and she has been a huge support to our family. She is very prayerful and felt Logan needed another year to grow up and get all his basic skills down before 1st grade. We feel like this was a good decision since Logan had no preschool which, sadly, is the new kindergarten. Logan is much happier this year and is so proud to be a table captain and helper to the other students. He towers over all the other kids! He is gaining much more confidence, is finishing his work and following directions.

Family Reunion

In August my family had a reunion in Bear Lake, Idaho. We spent a day at Bear Lake or I should say we only spent a couple hours. Lorin needed to stop and do some work in Fish Haven which is right by the lake. A little project, for us anyway, turns into a big project because we always have Murphy on our side and if we didn't have bad luck we would have none at all. That is just the way things roll. We were glad we finally made it and could see that everyone was having a great time. I love that lake even if the sand is more like dirt and is impossible to totally get it out of swimsuits. The lake is unbelievably blue as you drive down the mtn. The water was warm and as you walk through the water there would be cold patches then you would hit a warm one, kinda interesting. It's true, you never know what those warm patches might be. We didn't see the Bear Lake monster which Logan was most intrigued with.

I think that is Megan out there. She had a big time floating around with her life jacket.

Cassidy had fun collecting sea shells or maybe they should be called lake shells.

Logan thought he was a deep sea diver. I wonder what he could see down there?

We then drove up to Bennington, Idaho to my grandparents home which is now my Aunt's and she was and is kind enough to let us come and spend some time there. While driving there the kids were just talking and being silly and out of the blue Cassidy says "Dad I love you" and he says "I love you too" and then she said "and that is why I don't die". A very interesting thing for a child to say and I suppose it is true. No other explanation really.

Anywho we made it to Bennington and set up our tent in the yard, ate yummy food, sat around the campfire, talked, and had a program.

Logan just really wanted to catch a stick on fire and was quite frustrated with everyone telling him that he couldn't do it.

Some of the crew sittin' around

Megan and her cousins Rachel and Lissa made up a cute dance to "Just Another Picture to Burn". It was quite creative and it was a surprise to see what they came up with. Oh look! Another use for those famous Smokey the Bear frisbees! After we ate the most delicious raspberry cobbler I have ever had! Bear Lake Raspberries.......YUM!

Next we hunkered down in our tent. The kids were excited because we don't do the tent thing very often. We were worried because the night before the temps. got down into the 30's. Welcome to Idaho! Tony and Marci nearly froze to death but it was in the 40's the night we stayed. I guess Grandpa always said after the 2nd week of August you could never be certain what the weather would do.

Saturday we took a little hike up Pine Canyon to see the old cabin my grandfather built when he was homesteading the land in the 1920's. This brought back so many childhood memories of camping and sledding etc. up in Pine Canyon.

I don't think my grandpa stayed at this cabin much because he was off herding sheep so much. But I guess it was a real cozy place. It had glass windows in it and everything. Now it is just a home for the pack rats. It was fun for the kids to see a bit of history.

My grandparents home may have been small and humble but you know what it was and still is a happy refuge from the world. There is no place like it.
Oh the memories I have of going "over the river and through the woods" to Grandma's house. It was so fun to be back, to walk up the steep stairs to the attic and have everything be the same, to walk through the barnyard, to smell the smell of the farm, to see the sheep, the old gates and fences and Grandma's flowers. I am really excited to plant the poppy flower seeds that Aunt Wilma gave me from Grandma's flowers. Oh how I miss my Grandma. It was really kinda hard to leave but we will be back. Maybe we will do it again next summer.

I remember playing and climbing on these wagon wheels as a child. Good times!

Megan is Eleven!

Megan is Eleven and has been since Aug. 10th! Hard to believe that it is possible. Megan is growing up so fast. She is a very good girl with a desire to do what is right and we are proud to be her parents. It is hard to be the oldest child. Meg is very patient with us as we continue to learn how to be parents. She is learning to be responsible and has been a big help. She is a good big sis. and a great friend.

For Megan's birthday she really wanted to have a sleepover so we let her have 5 of her cousins sleep over. They had a blast. We had a bubble blowing contest (some had greater skills than others), played games, ate pizza, cupcakes and popcorn, painted nails, and slept outside in a tent. And WOW texting seems to be a big part of a teens life. We won't name any names but I just hope that the parents a.k.a. Deb and Shelly have unlimted text.=) I'm just sayin'. Remember the day and age when pagers were the new, cool thing? We have come a long way. Anyway......Meg was given a Taylor Swift CD and they all went outside and sang and danced. Sorry to the neighbors for the noise!=) I have forgotten how loud 7 girls can be. Oh to be young again! There was some Justin Bieber talk but it was all over my head. He has weird hair! And some of the poses in these pics. crack me up. Not gang signs I hope.

Eleven is still little right? Love you Megan!

I actually made something!

Since this blog is kind of my journal you all (those who actually read this) get to enjoy some posts that are boring but are for my record keeping and remembrance. In order for me to blog about Disney world I need to put a few other things on here before I get to that. So bear with me as I humor myself.

This summer I was really in the redo craft mode but this is pretty much the only project

I got to. I saw this sign on a blog (sorry can't recall which one) and I loved it so I made one. I love how the "be clean" stands out so I hung it in the bathroom as a reminder of all the ways we need to be clean in body and spirit. It doesn't have all of Pres. Hinckley's "Be's" on it but good ones. My friends, this is not vinyl. I painted it by hand and I think it gives it more charm. Sorry, that sounded boastful! Actually I am too cheap right now to buy vinyl. Thanks for bearing with me.=)