Our family is back together!!

Well, we are back together. Derek is done with school and he did wonderfully! He passed with a 92% and we are SO excited! We also found out last week that Derek's lawyer for the lawsuit against his school got all the students who have their loans through a certain bank (we will be nice...don't get me started on them) will have the interest stopped and that we will not have to make any payments until the lawsuit is complete. We were extremely excited about this and it is such a great blessing. We couldn't have asked for better news (well, except to hear that this whole things was done and that we won, but we can wait...it's a lot easier without having to make a payment every month too). We are waiting to hear on a house that we put in for to rent down in Monroe. It is VERY cute and would be perfect for us and it is in a great ward.

Friday night when Derek got home we went to the ward camp out which was a lot of fun. Trenton enjoyed being by the river and decided that it is really, really fun to throw rocks in there and watch them splash. We had hot dogs over the campfire and some side dishes, and of course some smores (YUMMY!). We did not stay the night though because we had a work party to be to the next morning. Saturday was tons and tons of fun. It was, hands down, the coolest work party I have ever seen in my life. They spend about $500, 000 to put this party together. Every single one of the kids gets a "prize" and they are not cheap which Trenton loved. He got to take his first pony ride, got a monkey balloon hat, a "tattoo", tried cotton candy for the first time, and thoroughly enjoyed spraying everyone he could with his water gun (he soaked a LOT of people). They had great BBQ which was catered for us and there were tons of rides for the kids. Trenton had a hard time concentrating on eating lunch though because every table was filled about 4 inches high with candy. He didn't want to stop eating it. After the kids got their presents, they had a raffle for all of the employees. We were hoping to win something, but weren't expecting anything. I was shocked when I looked at our ticket and it actually had a winning number on it. So, my hubby won a to die for beautiful pair of diamond earrings. He was kind of bummed he didn't get a big screen TV or a BBQ or something like that, but I was super excited. Never once did I ever think that I would own a real pair of diamond earrings. (I lose earrings WAY too easily to get the expensive kind, but these have not been lost...I refuse. :-) ) So that was a fun day. Today we went to church and then came home and decided to go to the locks. It's free and really fun, so off we went. We ate sandwhichs in the car and drove down there. Trenton absolutely loved it. There were trains going by (which the bridge had to go up and down for), big, beautiful yachts (we're talking $2-5 million yachts!!), and fish (fishes galore). He got to go down into the damn and see the fish swimming up stream and he thought that was the coolest thing he had ever seen. He loved it and I am sure we will go back. He also liked walking through the botanical gardens that are at the locks. For those of you that don't know, Trenton is a flower fanatic (he learned this from his Grandpa Maughan). He was in flower smelling heaven. Then he got to chase birds, squirells, and a little dog all over the grass (while we relaxed on a blanket). It was a lot of fun and we are glad for such a great weekend.

Well, that's enough for the night. Have a great evening (or morning I guess...it is 12:10am). Love you all!

Derek, Dana, & Trenton

Welcome!

We decided that we would break down and get a family blog now that we are away from most of our family. We thought it would be nice to share with family and friends.

Washington is great and we feel SO at home. Everything is just falling into place and it is definetly where we are supposed to be. This move made it so that Dana doesn't have to work, but she will be watching her cute little niece, Emma, when he mom is at work a day or two a week.

Derek is doing amazing and Trenton and Dana couldn't be more proud of him. He is working his butt off with everything and cannot wait to actually get started and be done with him schooling (and be back home with the family for more than a week).

Trenton loves the trees. He is always saying that he wants to climb them and live in the trees. He has grown a good couple of inches and LOVES being a "good cousin". He takes great care of Emma and helps calm her down and make her laugh. He loves to go on the boat and be on the lakes with the ducks. He went on the tube with Dana and is begging to go again all the time. He has made lots of new friends. Besides the lake, his favorite place to go is the races at Skagit. He wakes up every morning and asks if we can go watch Lightning McQueen go really, really fast, around and around in circles. It is really cute.

Well, that's enough for the night and I am exausted so it is time to go to bed. Hope everything is well with everyone. Make everyday worth living.