Our newest family picture

Aren't we cute. This was taken about a month ago. We don't get very many pictures of the whole family. My brother took it and it was so great I had to blog it. It is a good picture when Ali is not crying. Mark and I are excited to announce that we are going to NC to a JAARS technical evaluation. We ask for you to pray for us as we are trying to decide what our next steps will be and as they evaluate Mark's skills as a pilot. He's been flying a huge aircraft and is very used to that and he is getting evaluated in a little bug. A fly perhaps. I'm sure he'll do well if you are all praying for him. He always seems to do his best flying when people are praying :) Thanks! We'll keep you posted.

Daddy pile

I'm not even sure how this happened. There was much giggling involved and bam! There was a daddy pile and Caleb climbed it all!

Hiking

Hiking was a lot of fun!

Here is Hannah with a BIG baby on her back. Ali and Micah hiked but the big kids enjoy giving them breaks. Thanks Hannah!

We love to hike so off we went. I'm so glad to have Mark home! We went with Roberta and Josh, Rebecca, Hannah, Tiana, Sarah and her friend. It was great fun! Here is a pic of Berta and I carrying the babies. It is great for burning the extra butter! Let me encourage you all; hike up a mountain with your baby on your back :)

Mark and Lucas

Here is a pic of Mark and our friend Lukas. He is a senior in high school this year. This was some kind of inspection and Mark went out to see Lukas. Fun times.

Baking

Some of you may know my love for baking and also my love for healthy living. Well, for about a year now I've been using a natural sweetener called blue agave. It is very similar in texture to honey or maple syrup. It is much much weeter than sugar and pretty easy to use. I've started experimenting with cookie recepies! We all know how I love the chocolate chip cookie. I'm really excited about it. Blue agave does not have the side effects of sugar. My kids are so naughty if they have sugar so we don't use it at all and we try to limit the foods that have it in there. Blue agave is my new best sweetener. I'll let you know when I perfect my chocolate chip cookies. It has whole wheat, oats, wheat germ and flax seed in it! There is no sugar or white flour. They taste great! Even the nighbors love them :)