Caught! On Camera

Hunter is the BOMB dot com!  (click on link)

Dear Hunter,

If you choose to record videos of yourself on my computer, I will eventually find them and maybe even post them to my blog.

Love,

Mama

A Very Tiger Birthday AND Animals Everywhere

Notice the new tiger tail, tiger ears, and leopard boots

Her favorite new present--a white tiger cub

Cousin Sierra and Elisabeth at the Gateway before going to the Build-A-Bear Workshop

TigerDog

Washing their new dogs

Ashton's new bear named "Bullets"

Elisabeth and Sierra posing with their new dogs at Chili's

Finding just the right outfit for her wiener dog.  She finally settled on a cowboy hat.

AND

What happens when I leave for a day and a half?  Well, apparently we get new members of the family.  Yes, last weekend when I went to see my brother compete in his hill climb, Robert took the kids to the pet store and bought a hamster and 2 birds.

Meet "Cocoa Puff"--Madison and Elisabeth's hamster

Meet "Skyler" and "Isis"--Hunter's parakeets

Me cuddling with Jazzy before scriptures--Gooooood girl Jazzy!

The "Big Nasty" Weekend

Seeing someone wholly and perfectly in their element is beautiful.  My brother Stephen has loved dirt, speed, motorcycles, and adrenaline for as long as I can remember.  He was and has always been a free spirit, sometimes bucking authority and absolutely constant in living by his own rules.  I greatly admire that he would not allow others to squash the essence of who he was.  I admire that he works hard and plays even harder.  He seems to have found the ability to suck the absolute marrow out of life and it really is an inspiring thing to behold.  

This last weekend, I traveled with my parents and my sister Kristen to Ontario, Oregon to see him compete on a pro level hill climb event called the "Big Nasty"--nasty because of the treacherousness of the hill.  I am not lying when I say that just trying to climb this hill that looked like it was at a 90 degree angle would have reduced me to gripping fear and tears.  But he managed to climb the hill at probably 70 miles per hour with keen ability and no fear.  Wow.  AND he made it into the finals.  I am so incredibly proud of my brother.

Proud to be a Brinkman

My mom and Stephen's daughter Charlotte

Stephen right after his first ride

Eat My Dirt

Me, Stephen, and my Mom at his trailer before a race

Yes, it really is called the "Big Nasty"

Me on his bike.  I look like I'm going to burst with happiness.  Strange, I know.

Stephen and his baby girl

This picture is not being uploaded with very high quality
to my blog.  It's much better on my computer.  This is right
before he made it over the hill.

Awesome stunt show between races

Samara, my sister in law with Brooklyn

We drove past this amazing field of zinnias

My Mom, me, and Krissy

The Family That PLAYS Together

I once heard a twist on the saying, "The family that prays together, stays together" which was "The family that PLAYS together, stays together."  Of course our family tries to have daily prayers together, but I don't think that importance of fun together should be underestimated.  Life is DIFFICULT and incredibly unpredictable and having wonderful, happy memories to draw from can really help lighten your burden.  This weekend, we went to my grandparents cabin which I have been doing since I was about 15.  At night, we played a lot of games (which I usually have to force myself to do) and laughed A LOT.  Seeing Ashton trying to act out something for charades was priceless.  No matter what we guessed on our first guess, he said, "You're right!"  He was so very proud of himself.  We had an amazing Sunday service near a waterfall where each of the kids were told they had to come up with their own talk.  It was so sweet and touching to hear each of their individual insights.  There were several moments during our weekend--perfect moments--the kind where you almost don't want to breathe because the distraction might end it.  I made sure that I took many mental pictures so that I would never forget how perfect moments feel.  If you were to eavesdrop on our family, it would be LOUD, animated, there would be power struggles and fights, but there would also be lots of fun, happiness, and laughter.  Family.  There's just nothing quite as splendid.

Yellow flowers everywhere!

Robert introducing Jazzy to the horses

"Our tree"  where we carved our names when
we were 18, and where Robert later proposed

"The Rock" right before the hike to
"Yellow Lake"

Robert, very proud of his burnt marshmallow that looks
more like a hideous tumor

Brothers

Hunter spotted this butterfly and wanted
me to take a picture.

The absolute GLEE over seeing a horse poo

Trying to get a picture of all 5 kids smiling can be torture.
Notice Ashton refusing to smile--just because we wanted him to.

Wild flowers

Love the missing tooth smile

The owner came out and let us feed her horses gingersnap cookies

Ashton never gets enough of throwing rocks in the river