It's a surprise!!

Way back in 2005, Blake bought a 1965 Ford Pickup from his Uncle Richard. The pickup had actually belonged to his Grandpa Grant before it was Uncle Richard's. He wanted to restore it and paint it up nice. He took it to Blackfoot High School in the fall of 2007 and had the automotive classes rebuild the engine. A year ago, he took it to a man to have it painted, we finally got it back on Thursday. Jared decided that he wants Randy to be surprised when he sees it in the shed, so we're not telling him that it is all painted and running. There is still a lot of work to be done on it. They have to put everything back in the interior and all the trim on the outside, but it will be a sweet truck when it's all done. Here are some pictures of the loading up process, for some odd reason they are not in order, but I can't seem to change them. Then there are a couple of videos of the loading and unloading.

Pictures of Randy!

I was lucky enough to find Sister Beki Winchel on facebook. She served in the Winnipeg mission with Randy. He was her zone leader for 9 months. She posted a lot of her mission pictures and I found some really good ones of Randy. I cropped some of them to post here. I love them, because he looks so happy! Can you believe that we get to see that smile in person in 26 days! I don't really know the circumstances behind the photos, I just know that he seems really happy!

Picture Tag

I am supposed to post the 6th picture from the 6th folder on my computer. Since I have two picture files, I'll post one picture from each file. One file is for older pictures and one for more recent photos. This is Randy long jumping at a track meet at Idaho Falls High when he was in 8th grade. If I'm remembering right, this is the meet that he cut his finger on his spike and Cindy almost passed out when she saw it!

This was taken Jan. 4, 2008 at 8:01 am, very pretty sunrise!

The last....

It seems we are having a lot of lasts in our lives lately. Today was the last time we will go to a Parent Teacher Conference. Some might say "yipee"! But I'm a little sad... Parent Teacher Conferences have always been a pat on the back for me. I really need to compliment all four of my kids! Even if they haven't always had the best grades (mostly the grades were pretty good), they have always been well liked and respected by their teachers. The teachers always tell us how polite and kind our kids are. I've lost track of the number of times I've been told that they wish their whole classroom was full of Cindys or Brians or Randys or Jareds. It makes me so proud to be their mother! Thanks to all four of you for being such good examples to me! Today was no exception, Jared had all A's, but I think the compliments on his behavior are even more important!

Got Veins?

Blake was teaching Brian how to find good veins for starting IV's. They practiced on each other then on Celia and I. The only problem was that Blake put the tourniquet so tight that Celia and I had a fit, then they called us whimps!

Spring Break???

We left on Wednesday to go snowmachining one last time. That is what Jared wanted to do for Spring Break. We stopped in the mountains by Soda Springs and rode for a couple of hours, then we went on to Bear Lake. We stayed in a condo and went riding in the Paris canyon. There was about 2 feet of new powder, so there was plenty of snow!

Jared loves riding snow machines!

He led Blake and I on "an express route"! We didn't quite make the turn!

Thursday morning the straps holding the covers on were frozen down and very hard to get undone. Blake's hands were pretty cold!

We got stuck several times, but Jared says that is just part of the adventure!

Jared lost all his wisdom.........teeth

Last Monday, the first day of Spring Break, Jared did something way exciting! He had his wisdom teeth out! He got pretty swollen, and now his jaw is yellow, but he didn't have a lot of pain. This picture was taken on Monday night, before the swelling got too bad.

Still snowmachining!

Jared and Blake went to the Kilgore area yesterday to ride for awhile. They had great time, the snow was a liitle hard, but there was still plenty of it!

Jared tried doing some jumping or "popping wheelies"
Here's Blake going fast.

Blake was a good camera man, he caught Jared getting a little air.

Here's a little video of Jared jumping!

The beginning of the end

It was a happy day, it was a sad day. Friday marked the opening day of the 2009 Blackfoot High School tennis season. It was a happy day because the snow was off the courts and the sun was shining brightly! It was a sad day because it also marked the very last opening day of any kind of High School sports for the children of Blake and Diana Purcell! Holy cow, how can we be this old?!?!

Jared, playing at the net, and I'm taking pictures through the fence again.

He's playing mixed doubles with Megan Dalley. She was his partner from last year and they have played some tournaments together during the off season, and it showed. They looked like they did at the end of the season last year, very comfortable with each other. They won 6-0. 6-1!

Jared serving. The kids from Skyline didn't ever get the hang of his serve.

Church Ball

Since Jared didn't play school ball this year, he has been playing with the Groveland 1st Ward. It has been really fun and relaxing for him. He has been a leader on the team and they have had a great time. They have got along well and just had fun. On Thursday they played the Stake Championship game and won it, which means they have won all their games. Now they are in the Regional tournament this week.

Jared didn't do a lot of shooting, mostly passing, but he did make this nice three, and I even caught him in the air - not on the ground after the shot!