Baby Blessing

I know that a potluck where you have to bring your own meat and a side dish doesn't sound like much of a potluck, but we're expecting to have quite a few people (your side dish doesn't need to be able to feed everyone). We'll be providing hot dog and hamburger buns as well as drinks and desserts.




Directions to Church




Directions to our house




Directions between house and Church

Guessing how this works

Hey:

This is Dave. I am just trying to figure out how this works. I will be posting more later. Greetings to everyone.

Dave

WDW pictures

Braegger Family Vacation Quiz

We just got back from a much needed vacation in Florida and had a fantastic time. We spent 6 days at Disney World, and a day on Clearwater Beach Island. We thought it would be fun to share some of our most memorable moments in quiz form.

1. Who called granola bars "granilla" bars?
2. Who won 1st Place for Best Robot Design in Epcot, two days in a row?
3. Who got kissed by Sleeping Beauty?
4. In "England", who asked the girl helping us what language she spoke in her country?
5. How many miles did the Braegger Family walk during their vacation? (a) 25 (b) 9 (c) 16 (d) 49
6. Who barfed in the middle of the food court during dinner?
7. Who earned the nickname "Chap" during the trip?
8. When offered the choice of chips, chex mix, or granola bars, who asked the flight attendant for a "granilla" bar?
9. Who got stuck in outer space? (a) MaryAnne (b) Josh (c) Zach (d) all of the above
10. Who said, "I guess God just doesn't like bras"?
11. Who jumped in the pool fully dressed to save Michael from drowning? (a) Troy (b) Zach (c) David Hasselhoff (d) MaryAnne
12. Who was the only family member who didn't want to ride "Mission: Space"?
13. During the "Jungle Cruise", we met a family from South Africa who (a) currently lives in Colorado (b) lives in the Denver area (c) lives less than 2 miles from us

Answers:

1. Sophie. To save money, we took snacks into the park and Sophie called her favorite snack "granilla" bars.
2. Sophie again! Her robots were very stylish and colorful.
3. Josh. We celebrated Josh's birthday while at Disney World, and while getting his picture taken with Sleeping Beauty, she surprised him with a birthday kiss.
4. Michael.
5. (d) 49 miles! Josh's P.E. teacher asked him to track his steps with a pedometer and we were more than surprised to calculate the result. No wonder we're so tired!
6. When Sophie says her tummy hurts, move out of the way!
7. If we said who it was, someone would be really embarrassed. Let's just say that Splash Mountain, baggy wet shorts, and 100% humidity make for a bow-legged "chap".
8. MaryAnne. She didn't realize what she said until the flight attendant looked at her funny.
9. (d) Follow this link for more details http://ms.go.com/retrieve?card_id=0D2A4F4CCF913E028F160050704BD288
10. Josh. It's a long story, but it was so funny it made MaryAnne laugh so hard diet coke came out of her nose.
11. (d) MaryAnne. She and Michael have never been so scared! He waded out into the deep end and all MaryAnne could see were his panicked eyeballs above the water.
12. Troy.
13. (c) It's a small world after all.

Wow!

Wow, same hair and cheeks! :)

I haven't posted for a while, so here's a little update on the Reckling clan (or as Luke calls us the "Folklings").

Emma is trying to transition into nursery, and it has been a bit more frustrating than I expected. She has never been clingy, and all of a sudden, screams the second I leave the room. I know many people go through this, and it will pass...she loves the toys and socializing--she just wants me sitting there on the floor while it happens. It's fun to see her grow up--she's saying new words everyday. Her favorite phrase right now is, "What is it?", followed by a "Wow". She loves to read "Where the Wild Things Are" and points out Max in every picture. Being a mom is so much fun...I know Grandma and Grandpa love it too!

I am staying busy. I'm happy that there are only 9 weeks of school left. I'm teaching a night class (Spanish 102) at our community college and I am going to teach a couple of summer classes starting in June, also. I love teaching adults, its such a different world from middle school. Next year I'm dropping down to a part-time contract during the day, and I'll still be teaching one class at night a couple of days a week at the community college. I'll be able to be home more with Emma. I'm really looking forward to it!

Shane is 2 quarters away from being done with his diesel program. He has a great job right now working for one of the school districts, and they will convert it to a full-time job once he gets his certification. So next year, he will be home with Emma in the mornings while I'm at work, then I'll come home and he'll work the night shift at work, and I'll be home with Emma. We won't see each other much during the week, but it'll be great to have Shane done with school.

Hope all is well with you! :) Love, Carrie, Shane & Emma

Possible Family Resemblance

Just for fun, here is a picture of Kimberly Valentine on Christmas Eve in 1993. Can anyone see a resemblance to anyone, other than our granchildren are all beautiful ... even the boys!

Easter Pictures

Emma's first real Easter Egg Hunt. So fun!

Love, Carrie, Shane & Emma

Valentine Family Pictures

Grandpa Robert and Ethan Robert

Happy Easter

New baby cousin Robert

Spencer and the Science Fair Award

Our 16th Anniversary in January

The view from Stephen's desk at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

Ethan's first piano performance. He played "Middle C" and took a bow.

Another family band?

It's a mental sport, so I must be insane!

I want to thank my dad for putting in the plug for me about the marathon. I am touched! I will be dedicating each mile to the special people in my life, my biggest supporters, and I have to fill 26 of them! So anyone who wants to send me an email to wish me well, I would love it, and you will be remembered while I am running! I will look at my list and it will say, "Mile (6) is dedicated to the Folkman Family Bloggers"! It's going to be a blast, and definitely a peak experience I will always remember.

My only regret is that Stephen will not be there at the finish line. The marathon date changed after I registered, and Stephen was already scheduled to be a speaker at a five-day conference in Richmond, VA. He tried to get out of it, or have his assignment changed to a different day, but it wasn't possible. So I told him he has to blow up a picture of his head to life-size, and have the kids hold it up when I get there. Mom and Dad will be there with my kids, and Ian said he was coming, and I think my in-laws and a few others on that side will be there. It's only a month away!

I'm sorry I haven't posted for awhile. I don't have a lot of time to "play" on the computer. I even have to compete with Ethan for a turn nowadays.

So, to update everyone....

It is "birthday season" at our house. It officially starts each year with Ethan's birthday on March 30. All seven of us have our birthdays between March 30 and August 9. Ethan is four now. His best present this year was his new baby cousin born on his birthday. We were so happy about that! Now Ethan Robert and Robert Grant will not only share the same name, but the same birthday too! Congratulations Adam & Shala! We love you!

Anna is 6 and a half, and about to graduate from 1st grade. School gets out the end of May for us. She is a very good reader. Anna is looking forward to her bedroom finally being finished in a few more weeks. She has been occupying a small corner of Amanda and Kimberly's room for a year now. We are in the mudding and taping stage of construction, so it should be ready in a few weeks. I am looking foward to decorating it for her. She will have the girliest, frilly, flowery, princess room I can dream up.

Spencer recently won an award for his science fair project at school, and received the highest rating at the district level. He is getting ready for his first pinewood derby, and is just a great kid.

Kimberly is so ready to be done with Jr. High...
She is excited about her first job when school gets out. She'll be working at Lagoon with Amanda.

Amanda is learning to DRIVE!!!!! Enough said.
Actually, she just got back from a trip to California with her high school orchestra. She had a great time. She has already started working at Lagoon on weekends for the season.

Stephen is very very busy with work, basement construction, his calling as ward clerk, and he always has 2 or 3 other projects on the side such as writing family histories in book form for people, and working on his own writing projects. AND, he still has time to help around the house, and cook, and be the "waterboy" sometimes for my training runs, and be the best husband a wife could ask for! Right now he is on a five-day business trip in Colorado.

As for me, I am busy with running, Young Womens, running, piano lessons, running, PTA, running, etc. We are planning Girls Camp right now, so the girls and I are looking forward to that. It is the week after school gets out.

In general, life is good!!

I love our family blog. I have had fun this morning catching up with all of you! I looked at Zach's myspace page and loved the documentary, and the song. Good luck on the show in May! Ian's trebuchet is the coolest, and I love all the pictures everyone is adding to the blogs. I was so happy to see pictures of Kris and Marcos and their family. It has been so long.

Love to you all!
Linda, Stephen, Amanda, Kimberly, Spencer, Anna, and Ethan.

P.S. In case you don't have my email address...lindamaevalentine@msn.com

Upcoming events

Since Linda and her family haven't posted lately, I will remind everyone to remember May 19 to keep Linda in your prayers. That's the day she runs the Ogden Marathon, at age 34-11/12, a goal she has had for quite a while. She recently completed a half-marathon and is pretty optimistic she will pull this off. If you are not amazed, you should be.