Another Year of School Has Begun!

Well, school has officially started again.  Another year under way.


You know you've been teaching a long time when the first day of school sounds something like this ... 

A Visit From the Hansens.

It's always a party when we visit Washington.  Playing with Grandma and Grandpa AND all the cousins too! We were able to do some fun things...

Walked along the Columbia River at Howard Amon Park, had a picnic in the park and played in the river. Grandma with Shauna's kids.

Blake, Bayler and Dallin

ShaRae with Marshall, Blake, Ashlyn and Casen.

Grandma with Ethan (ShaRae's baby).

Ashlyn, Casen and Bayler

Snuck in Grandpa's farm equipment (Casen).

 One of the favorites... 4-wheeler rides with Grandpa around and through the whole farm. 

Spotting watermelon and smelling onions.

 We always enjoy a good baseball game with Grandpa.  Zayne, Marshall, Haylee and Grandpa. 

Swimming at the Maughan's pool. (Marshall)

Thanks for entertaining us.  We had a great time.  We hope to see you again... SOON!  Love you tons.

24th Celebration.

We always tease Mom that our church (and her ward) always have a birthday celebration for her every year!  Her birthday is on the 24th of July! In reality they are celebrating the 24th of July in remembrance of all the pioneers coming to the Salt Lake Valley.  The Columbia Basin Ward enjoyed a night of pioneer reenactment, pictures, homemade ice-cream (where Mom has won in the contest every year with her Tutti-fruiti ice-cream) and fun with friends. If I would have attended I would have made it feel like a celebration for my Mom too!  Happy Birthday Mom.  You are a wonderful example to us all!

Mom and Dad with the Withers, Cary and Mary.

A Fralp

Sorry, dad, I had to post this. It makes me laugh each time I read it.

Sadly, I am inheriting your fralp! :)

{ 40 years }

Our Mom and Dad are amazing.  Here are 40 reasons why...

1. 40 years of marriage 
2. Married- March 20, 1971 in the Idaho Falls Temple.
3. Settled in the Columbia Basin- loved it so much they haven't wanted to leave!?!
4. 6 kids (4 girls and 2 boys) along with their 6 spouses
5. Sent two sons on missions- Sacramento, CA and Arequipa Peru.
6. Six Temple Weddings- all in different Temples... Jordan River, Seattle, Logan, Mesa, Arizona, Las Vegas and Columbia River. All four girls married returned missionaries.
7. At ShaRae's wedding we were all able to attend with our spouses.  It was a wonderful experience all of us worthy and able to attend.
8. 19 grandkids (12 boys and 7 girls)
9. Mom a school teacher Grandma Howard is the book Grandma- she finds the best books for each of her grandkids.  Dad a farmer and chemical applicator/grassphopper operator (according to my kids).
10. Raising and selling cows. We would feed baby calves in our backyard with houses made of straw bales. (Janelle)
11. Campouts on the front lawn
12. Many ball games in the yard and spending hours playing ball in the church gym.
13. Mowing the church ballfield lawn with "Big Red" (Janelle) and watering it with handlines. Handlines were sometimes filled with water and mice. (Zach) I still love going home putting on water boots and helping Dad change water, now I have little boys who put their water boots on and help too!(Shauna)
14. A big willow tree in our front yard that we would climb, hang a tire swing from, swing from the branches and trim every year. We had a huge lilac tree and somekind of nut tree/bush that we would make forts and play house in.
15. Four girls in a bedroom, sharing one bathroom- how did we do that?
16. Most of us had an opportunity to cut the alfalfa with very crooked windrows, Dad would say, "Just keep them close enough so I can rake them together." Dad taught us hard work on the farm, bucking bales, moving pipe, weeding beans and all the work that comes with hay.
17. The rule on Christmas morning- we weren't able to see what Santa brought until the cows/calves were fed and the newspaper brought in.  We got smart...  feeding the cows and bottle feeding the calves for Dad- sometimes very early in the morning. (Michelle)
18. My Dad had an old cow truck, the ward would borrow it every year to take all the girls belongings to girls camp.  It was our job to spray it out and make sure it was clean enough to load up for Girls Camp. (Michelle)
19. Many ball games whether church sports or school athletics.  Our biggest fans were Mom and Dad! Mom and Dad hardly ever missed a game- going to most away games.  I always did better knowing that they were there.
20. Numerous family pets, a baby goat that was tied to a tree, chickens that we got from a church party, stray cats that would never leave and our favorite dogs Bandit, Dolly, Bandita and Cutter to name a few. 
21. They forked out lots of money to make us all happy. Even though money was scarce at times, we always had plenty of food, clothes and love!
22. Supported all of us in atheltic events, band, choir, Scouts, Young Women activities, etc.
23. Mom was so good about consistent Family Home Evening, family scripture study and kneeling around the dinner table for family prayer. Most of the time it was a fight to get us there and more fights when we there. She never gave up on us.
24. Great family vacations- Oregon Coast, many camping trips- on one trip we woke up in the middle of a horse pasture with horses surrounding us, (Mom would make homemade granola and we would eat it with yogurt- Janelle) Mt. Rainier, The Cascade Loop, The Olympic Peninsula, The Grand Canyon and Zions National Park, Disneyland/Sea World, many trips to Idaho, Howard Reunions in La Grande Oregon and Platt family reunions at Lehman Hot Springs. We always had one family vacation a year. Mom had summers off with us, but that was Dad's busiest time. We had to schedule our vacations around Dad's hay schedule. These are some of the funnest memories ever!
25. Mom made sure we were involved in music.  We all played an instrument starting in 4th grade and all were forced to take piano lessons. I wish I wouldn't have stopped lessons... (Clarinet, saxophone, flute, trumpet and trombone)
26. Saturday morning chores- we couldn't do anything or go anywhere until all the chores were done.  (Cleaning the floor Cinderella style! Thanks Mom.)
27. Picking raspberries early in the morning, before it got too hot and getting our arms cut up, then making jam.
28. Picking Strawberries at Bama's strawberry patch.
29. We always had a huge garden that we all weeded, then spent the summer canning.
30. Canning peaches, Mom would peel and cut the peaches in half and we would make up the sugar water. 
31. Picking apples at Ringold. (Janelle)
32. Going in the potato truck with Dad, drinking homemade grape juice out of this thermos. (Janelle)
33. Crashing Dad's motorcycle in the ditch with Ryan on the back. 
34. May 18, 1980 Mt. St. Helens erupted.  Came home from church in the dark.  Dad had to go get hay for the cows and we were scared he wouldn't make it home.  Mom still has a bottle of ash from that memorable day.
35. Playing on haystacks and making forts.
36. MOM: organized, thorough, first one to work-last one to leave, devoted, musical, good cook, loving (Michelle)
    
    DAD: friendly, kind, hard working, My kids have to explain to their seminary teacher that they are not really cousins with Columbia Basin Ward youth, they just call him Grandpa Bob too! (Michelle)
37. Going for walks with Mom- to the stop sign and back.
38. Sunday afternoon cookies- we would beg to make cookies after church and then play Primary on the front porch.
39. Mom and Dad taught us the gospel and lived what they taught.  Baring their testimonies often to us.  We all knew the gospel was true, thanks to the example of our parents and the love they continue to show us.
40. We love when we get to see Grandma and Grandpa- they are so amazing at attending all the important events in each family (Baptisms, ordinations and baby blessings). We know we have their support in everything we do.

And Zach added these after I (Shauna), had finished the 40, so thanks Zach:

1) Living in the same house for 18 years ... with 2 different addresses

2) Playing cars in the dirt patch underneath our big willow tree
3) Being chased out of the church for playing ball by certain church janitors
4) Cheering up mom after she torched her little Escort

I think we could add so many more memories, but for this occasion we will include 40. Thanks for the help from my siblings.  Thinking back to all the good times we shared together with Mom and Dad, tears come to my eyes.  We have been blessed with goodly parents. So many great memories...

Mom and Dad- Thank You for the memories

At the Movies

We don't get out to the movies much so it has been a lot of fun this holiday season seeing a couple with family members.

First Audrey was able to take most of the local grandkids to a daytime showing of Tangled. It was a very fun show for parents and kids and a lot of fun to go see.

Bob was able to go to see True Grit. He took a few older kids, along with Derek, and Zach. It was really fun for him to get out and see a movie since he doesn't do that near enough. He thoroughly enjoyed the movie, but stated, "it's not John Wayne" multiple times. So the next night, he dug out his original True Grit DVD and they sat down and watched the original.

All in all it has been a fun holiday season for all.

Our Children (Christmas cards)

Michelle's family

Janelle's family

Shauna's family (kids)

Ryan's family

Zach's Family

Brooke Gets Baptized.

We were able to be in Pocatello over the weekend to witness another grandchild's baptism.  Janelle's youngest, Brooke was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and received the Holy Ghost.  It was great to be together with a few of our kids.   Shauna and Brian came up from Logan and Zach was there with his family.  This makes a total of three (granddaughters) baptisms for the year.  Ashlyn (Shauna's oldest was baptized in February) and Makayla (Zach's oldest) was baptized in July.  It was great to see our kids, but had to head back through some bad storms.  We wish our kids didn't live so far away.  We teased that we were Santa's sleigh bringing gifts, we ended up taking home as many gifts as we came with. We also visited Bob's parents for a few days and spent some good time with them.

Brooke

Makayla

Ashlyn

We are grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives.  

A Little Teacher Humor

A little teacher humor for the beginning of the school year. Hopefully you get it. It was funny for us.
(click on it to enlarge it)

Labor Day Trip

Since it was a 3-day weekend and we had a little free time, we decided we would do something we haven't normally done. We went for a road trip. So on Saturday we headed up to Couer d'Alene and took a boat ride around the lake.  We spent the night there and enjoyed the scenery and relaxation being away from home.

Sadly, about 30 minutes into the trip we realized we had forgotten the camera. That seems to happen every good trip we take. So we didn't get any pictures of the things we saw, but you can just imagine.

An interesting part of our trip was visiting Hayden, Idaho. There are definitely some interesting people in that part of the country. Bob also got to see where Silverwood was and a few other things he hasn't seen since we never seem to get out much.

We came back home through the Palouse, the bustling metropolitan areas of Moscow, Idaho and Pullman, Idaho. By Sunday afternoon we were back home and back to the daily grind of everything. It was great to get away.

News

Okay, this is really Zach updating for Bob and Audrey, but with a little help, hopefully they will begin blogging soon.

Shauna has recently come into the blogging world with her new site (a link to that is on the right) and she also had the 18th grandbaby in our growing family. She had a little boy that they named Casen Lee Hansen. Things went well and Audrey was able to spend a week with Shauna in the Logan area taking care of her 4 kids now. It was lots of fun for her and a little too peaceful for Bob at home, so he spent some free time with Michelle and ShaRae's family. All in all, spring has been fairly nice to everybody.

And only 24 more days of school says school teacher Audrey. As a student I never thought the teachers counted down days and got as excited as we did for school to be over for the summer. But now I'm seeing that this is more and more true.

Another grandchild in the family

We added grandchild number 17 to the family early Sunday morning. ShaRae had a baby boy around 1:30 in the morning. They named him Blake Howard McShane. He was a little bit early, but seems to be a healthy boy. He weighed around 8 lbs (they weighed him twice and had a difference of 2 oz, so we'll stick with 8 lbs) and was 21" long.

Family Reunion

Here we are in Pocatello. Taryn (Janelle's third) was baptized Saturday July 12th on her birthday. Jaret (Zach's third) was blessed Sunday July 13th. There are 30 of us now and one more on the way (ShaRae's). We're all here except Derek (Michelle's) husband and having a great time together. Here are some pictures to prove it.

Audrey
(That's right it's me Connie, with Zachary's help.)

And it all started here 37 years ago.


The Maughans (Michelle's family)


The McShanes (ShaRae's family)


The McMinns (Janelle's family)


The Howards (Ryan and Amber)


The Hansens (Shauna's family)


The Howards (Zachary's family)


Here's the original eight. What a scary lot.

Update

Farming is going full steam now for Bob and it keeps him busy all of the time. With balers breaking down and other things falling apart, it has been an interesting crop so far this year. Thankfully the weather has been a little bit better so Bob is almost done with the first crop..

Audrey is out of school and enjoying summer. She keeps busy with workshops and other things around town and also loves to visit her 2 favorite children occasionally. (And those 2 know who they are) :)

They are both getting excited to head up for a family get together in Idaho here in the next 3 weeks. Janelle's daughter Taryn is getting baptized and Zach is blessing his baby, Jaret, that same weekend. It should be fun for them and all of the grandkids in Idaho are excited for Grandma and Grandpa to come visit.

I'll see if I can't pry some more information out of Bob and Audrey here in the near future.

Updates

The last couple of months since our last entry have been pretty uneventful. Which is always good for us. The less stress the better. We did have a few fun things happen though.

Bob celebrated his 60th birthday on March 29th. Another year older ("and wiser" he says).

Zach and Carrie had a baby on April 16th. That makes 16 grandkids now and the boys are outnumbering the girls 9 to 7. It was hard with Zach's because they didn't find out what it was until the birth, but eventually we finally found out.

School is now even closer to being out for the summer so we can plan trips. If we can afford the gas to go anywhere. There is a family reunion on Audrey's side this July at Lehman Hot Springs though. And they have said they have cleaned it up considerably since the last time we were there.

The farm is running at full speed now too since it is spring. Hay is a hot commodity in the area and the smaller bales are always popular for those with few horses and cattle. Thank heavens for them.

Life is good and we hope all are well. We'll work on having pictures up from things we've been doing in the future.

Staying Busy on the Farm

Life has been pretty busy and hectic in our household. Now that spring has come in Washington, it is time to get back to work on the farm. This is the reason we are using for not updating our blog in such a long time. Hope that works for everybody. :)

Bob has already started spraying and spreading for farmers around the country side and that has definitely kept him busy. He has also ventured into the wheat business with a few acres this year. He is excited not to have to swath and bale as many acres.

Audrey has been busy with school, as always. She is anxious for spring break to come to get a good break from the kids. But all in all it has been a good school year.

Howard Family Christmas Cards

For all of those family members that we forgot to send out a Christmas card to, here are pictures of our family members that they sent out this year. The first picture is an entire family picture from our family get together this summer. The others are described below. In order to get a more detailed view, just click on one of the pictures and you can see the families. We didn't get one from ShaRae or Ryan, but they are in the big family picture, so enjoy!

Here is the entire Howard crew. We fill out a card very well we think.


This is a picture of Michelle and Derek Maughan and family. They live in Pasco, Washington.


This is a picture of Janelle and Rob McMinn's family. They live in Pocatello, Idaho.


This is a card from Shauna and Brian Hansen and their 3 kids. They live in Logan, Utah.


This is a card from Zach and Carrie Howard and family. They also live in Pocatello, Idaho.

Can you believe we did this?

Okay, officially we didn't set this up, our son did, but we will hopefully keep things going to stay in touch with everybody. Check back once in a while to see what things we have started doing. We will keep you informed of new things happening in our lives and in the lives of our children.