16 Years and Going

On the 1st of August Cherry and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. It has been the best 16 years of my life. It is hard to believe that it has been that long since we were sealed for time and all eternity. We have stuck by each others side through thick and thin and the bad times are always overshadowed by the good. We see the breakdown of marriages all the time with both members and non-members of the church. It seems to make our resolve even stronger to follow what we know to be true. I never thought I could love a person as much as I love my wife. It seems to grow with each passing day. I cant imagine what life would be like without her. She is my soul mate. Our kids have gotten older and so have we. They have taught me lessons in a matter of seconds that my parents tried to teach me all my life. I have learned to be more patient and tolerant than I ever thought I could be. I always thought that parenting was such an easy job. All you do is sit around and tell the kids what to do and what not to do. Boy was I wrong! The love and friendship that I have with the kids runs deep and strong. We have become a close family and take care of each other when the need arises. I have seen my kids perform many selfless acts recently and I have been blown away by it. I have more gray hair now than I have brown and now I'm the one yelling at the young kids speeding down the road. I still see myself as young in heart but I now know the difference in being lighthearted and light minded. All I know is that I look forward to many more years and the eternities with my family. We are truly a blessed family. Until next post......

~John

Independence Day

We had an awesome day today celebrating Independence Day. We all along with our adopted daughter Malinda (by adopted I mean hanging out with us while her husband Paul is deployed) went to Brandon for some shopping and the fireworks at night. I'm not too sure what shopping has to do with the holiday but I was just along for the ride. I just wanted to see the fireworks. We also invited my friend Jason and his family along to watch the fireworks. It was great to be surrounded by friends and family for the night. For the last two years we have been going to the same location to watch them in the mall parking lot. I figured out what field they launch them out of and we park about 300 yards away from them. As they were going off we had the best vantage point in the entire area. A few of them looked like they were going to shower right down on us. I took some really good pictures of the event so I thought I would share them with everyone. They are in the scrolling slide show below. The only bad part is the chaos of traffic when it is all over. I think it is all worth it though. I hope everyone had as wonderful of a time as we did. I was just happy watching things blow up.

3rd of July

Tonight we decided to go buy some fireworks and blow some stuff up! Come to find out all the cool (cool as in blowing stuff up) fireworks we used to buy as kids can only be bought in Missouri. I guess they figure the pansy Floridians can’t handle the “cool” stuff. Bummer for me because I wanted to make some noise and all I got was some Whistling Pete’s and smoke bombs. Oh yeah I got some of the spinning flower foo foo (foo foo as in no bang) things too. We had fun anyway. Gregg got a little close to the little firecrackers and Lynn tried t launch the rockets after firmly planting them in the ground. Needless to say they were not space shuttle solid rocket boosters so they stayed in the ground and whistled causing everyone within 100 yards to lose a little hearing. We will be in a parade on the 4th with the Scouts. They asked me to uniform up and ride on the tank/float with them (crutch and all). More to come tomorrow. Hope all is well with everyone. Those of you in Missouri ….blow something up for me PLEASE!!!!

Madison's Birthday

Today was Maddy's Birthday. She had all her friends over for pizza and cake. She wanted a Wicked themed party and it turned out pretty good with the decorations and cake. She mostly received American Girl toys to go along with her vast collection. We can't believe how fast our kids are growing up. Our little princess is becoming a young woman. I can't believe next year she will move from primary to the Young Women's program. It will be lonely during camp time. Cherry and Maddy will be at girls camp and Gregg will be at Boy Scout Camp. I guess we will just have to spoil Daniel during that week. It has been a real busy day getting ready for her party and all the other day to day stuff we had going on. We have posted some of pictures below of the birthday party in a slide show. Enjoy.

Torture Machine

I have now received what looks like something you would find in a medieval torture chamber to help rehabilitate my knee. I had to have my leg immobile for so long it forgot how to stretch. Not to mention the scar tissue from the numerous operations. I have a hydraulic pump that forces my knee too stretch and bend like it is supposed to. I am able to get to about 90 deg now which is way better than when I started. I am really blessed to have such a patient wife and children. They wait on me hand and foot while I am recovering. They have sacrificed a lot of time and patience. I cant wait until I am fully mobile again. We take things day to day and see the progress as we reflect back on the days right after the surgery.

Daniel Receives Awards

Today Daniel had a Cub Scout Pack Meeting and received several awards . He received his archery belt loop, BB gun shooting belt loop, Ultimate Frisbee belt loop, and the Swimming belt loop. We are so proud of him for his accomplishments.

Family Update

Not really so much of an update I guess. Think of it as more of catching up with what has been happening with our family for the last little while. Cherry has been real busy taking care of me post operative. Surgery number three on my left knee took place on the 22nd of April 2008. This time they decided to replace the missing cartilage with baby cells that they harvested from me and grew in a lab...WHO KNEW??? Recovery has been long and difficult but everyone has been very supportive and helpful. I should be done with crutches within the next two weeks. Enough about me. The kids are getting older and bigger each day. Cherry Lynn is now 15 and begging for her license to drive. I have temporarily tamed the desire by telling her that the only car she can drive is what the kids refer to as my "Blue Beast". It's like my mom always told me..."it's not what is on the outside that counts, it's what's on the inside that’s more important". I think she was talking about girls. Gregg attempted to attend his first week long Scout camp recently. It lasted about 12 hours if you count the three hour drive to the camp and the 4 a.m. 3 hour drive back home on day .5. He will get there. Madison is growing up fast too. She loves to sing and dance and really wants to try out for Idol or Americas Got Talent next year. I really think she could do it if she had training from someone other than me. Daniel is stuck like glue to his older brother and follows him all over. He attended his first Cub Scout day camp with mom about 2 miles from the house. He had a good time but looked forward to hanging out with the kids in the afternoon. There you have it; the abridged version of the last couple of months. We will try to post weekly to this thing they call a blog. I hope it helps everyone keep in touch a little better.