The Bumm's are on the move...

As some of you may heard, we are moving. We found a great home. We are still in Queen Creek. Unfortunately, not in the same ward or stake. But we aren't going very far. It's only at Crismon/Ocotillo. Most of our kids will be changing schools at the end of the quarter. The house we are moving into is bigger and less expensive! It's in a great neighborhood with lots of kids (which we haven't had for almost 8 years) Our kids are excited to have other kids to play with. I'm excited to be on a real road so my car stays clean. We are close enough that we will see everybody quite often. But, we will miss the awesome people that have become extended family that we have become so close to in our ward these past several years. Thank you all for your love and help as our family has grown and changed. We will miss you so very much!

ALT FUEL SYSTEMS

We have had many questions recently about our business. So--here it is in a nutshell. Alt Fuel Systems is no longer in business. However, we have opened a new shop with a new name. Some of the same employees but some are gone. We are now "Green Energy Conversions" We do all of the same work--regular automotive repair and of course anything to do with converting/repairing propane and CNG vehicles. So, if you need anything done to your vehicle please give Mark a call. Our new business number is 480-709-6414. Thank you!

Happy Birthday to an awesome man...

Mark's birthday is tomorrow. We will have a busy weekend so I'm taking a minute this morning to honor him.
Mark is a wonderful father. He was thrown into this role at a young age and totally stepped up to the plate. We were married very young and the plan was to wait 5 years to have kids...didn't happen! Then the plan was to have 2 or 3 then maybe do foster care. 7 kids later....he loves our children, he loves to goof around with them, play video games, go on trips, he LOVES to tease them. He is a fun dad!! He is super good at helping with homework and talking with them after they've been in trouble. He's much better with a few of them than I am.


He is a wonderful husband! He makes me laugh every single day. We can talk and laugh for hours after the kids go to bed. He can read me very well. He knows just what to say to cheer me up and get me back on track. He will always help cook, clean, put kids to bed, deal with a problem child or just hold me when I have a bad dream. We have been best friends since we were 16. We got married so young we grew up together, and I look forward to growing old together. We have been married almost 16 years. Sometimes it feels like we've always been together and sometimes it feels like the time has flown by and I can't wait to see what the future brings for us.

One of his favorite things to do is go to the Dunes and have fun! He loves to ride. He's so happy when we go. He doesn't mind all the work it takes to get 9 people to California just to camp out for days. He loves to load everybody up and go on a family ride with everybody lined up together. He loves to take the boys up to competition hill and watch the races. He absolutely loves to ride up a huge hill, that alot of people wouldn't even think about, with his wife and children looking on in amazement! Unfortunately, with the state of finances right now, he was even willing to give up all the toys and hope that one day we can rebuild our collection. So sad, but just one more thing to show how much he loves his family and the sacrifices he's willing to make for us.

He is also always so willing to help anybody or take in anybody. We have had 2 siblings live with us. We had over 20 foster children. Now his mother lives with us. When it came to adopting our kids, he didn't even hesitate. He just knew we needed to bring them into our family and love them. There aren't very many 34 year old men that are willing to be in his position. But he LOVES it. He's GREAT at it. He makes it look so easy.

We are so blessed to have him as a husband, friend and father.

Mark-thank you. We appreciate you. We love you. Happy Birthday my love!

Back to school...

Today my sweet children returned to school after a 2 1/2 week break. We spent the time:

• doing yard work
• making s'mores
• playing card games and video games
• going winter shopping
• making more s'mores
• moving more of Pam's stuff from her old house
• more yard work
• deep cleaning the house
• coming up with Halloween costumes
• exercising/training Jake for cross country
• finding new recipes/cooking them
• going to yard sales
• playing hide-and-go-seek and tag in the house

We certainly tried to keep busy. It was definitely helpful having Pam around to keep the kids entertained. She is even teaching a few of them to sew, which is good because I'm not talented in that area in any way, shape or form!

While it was nice having them home, it's nice having them back at school too.

I realized over this break that although being a mom of 7 kids is very challenging...I actually love it...remember I'm the one who always told my mom "2 kids tops"! But I feel their love and appreciation and the smiles on their sweet faces and it makes it hard to remember the not-so-fun times. I'm starting to realize how quickly they are growing up and how I need to treasure every moment with them. Wow, the Lord definitely knew me better than I knew myself. He knew I would love having a large family gathered around me. Of course if I didn't have such an awesome husband it wouldn't be this great. Thanks honey, you're a blessing!