Cute little girl

This format is kind of messed up; I don't blog often enough to be very good at it. Anyway, here are some recent pictures.

Nathan in the fort he made...living in our basement with few toys has developed our kids' creativity.

Nathan and "Grandpa Big" at the father and sons campout. Ben was there, too. They didn't get much sleep but had a good time. Nathan got to reel in the biggest fish.

Here's Lydia in her fort.

Me and my girls on Mother's Day. Ben and the kids did all the cooking that day. It was a wonderful break.

Keep reading to hear the story behind this photo.

Karalee has done some really funny things lately, so I just had to share. A few days ago we got a music CD with a McDonald's happy meal and one of the songs on it is "We've got the Beat." Today Karalee was singing, "We got the beef."

About a month ago Ben moved some stuff upstairs so we could spread out a little since we had found no renters. We both didn't feel right about moving everything upstairs, yet. Our TV was on the third floor and Nathan and Lydia were watching it, while Karalee and I got ready to make cookies in the basement where we've been living. I went to check on Lydia and Nathan and when I got back I found Karalee and the counter covered in white powder. She said with a grin, "I make cookies." She had gotten into the cupboard and found corn starch and baking soda. Both boxes had been emptied into a bowl and everywhere else. Instead of getting mad, I took a picture. I had remembered someone in General Conference say, "If you'll laugh about it later, why not laugh about it now?"

So we did get renters upstairs and they are great. We had started advertizing and showing our basement to people to get someone renting whether it be upstairs or downstairs. We had a lot of people look at the downstairs. The right thing happened.

Ben's parents were inspired to ask me if I wanted to do a photo project for them while they are on their mission. So there's my part time job--scanning albums upon albums of photos, so they have digital copies. And since we're renting our upstairs and my grandpa advised me not to work out of the home, I'm not job searching anymore, at least for now. I thought my grandpa made a good point. He said that things might be tough financially right now, but that will change. The lessons I teach my children and time I spend with them will have a great impact on them down the road. I am thankful things have worked out the way they should for our family. Thanks for everyone's prayers and kindness.