Becca's Blog

A STICKY MESS!!

2010-02-09T09:42:00.000-08:00

Oh boy!! This little monkey who is almost 2 is into EVERYTHING!! The other day I got done giving him a bath and was getting clothes for him when I came back to find him in the kitchen covered in plum jelly!! There was plum jelly everywhere..... all over him including in his hair, and all over the counters!! It is hard to be mad when you find him in the jelly and it is really my fault for leaving the lid off of the jar after making school lunches for the kids! Plus, that adorable smile and the fact that he is just so darn cute doesn't help! So I grabbed my camera, laughed, and took a few pics of this mischievous little guy! Needless to say when we were all done taking pictures he ended up right back in the tub again! :) You caught me Mom!!
See what I did?!! Cool huh?!
Fun memories of a sticky little monkey!

Going Coupon Crazy!!!

2010-02-09T09:28:00.000-08:00

Well I've finally given in to peer pressure...... I decided to give this coupon craze a try to see if it really can and does save us some money. I have to say it is a lot of work, but it is rewarding when you see the savings. I've been trying it now for the past month, and whilst I can't say that I've saved any money on my grocery budget YET, I HAVE gotten more groceries for my money and have already stocked up on plenty of goods! So, yesterday I went out and took advantage of some deals on feminine products and other things, an all up all this cost me $17.72!! I saved almost $50 and I got $9 in Register Rewards a Walgreens! I was able to get:

4 Boxes Kotex Pads

4 Boxes Kotex Tampons

2 Joy Dish Detergents

1 Bag of Spinach

2 Cans of Olives

1 Men's Dove Body Wash

4 Boxes of Spaghetti

1 Bottle of All Laundry Detergent

4 Boxes Valentine Hearts

I was quite pleased with my effort yesterday!

If you want to know more about couponing or some of the great deals you can take advantage of, check out

http://idahodealdivas.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday to Emily!!

2010-02-09T09:17:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I got the order of these photos wrong....... (it's been a while since I updated my blog so I'm a bit rusty!) It was Emily's birthday this past week and she is officially 14 now! Wow, can't believe my kids are growing up so quickly! Time flies. Emily has a nice birthday party with a few friends. They ate heart-shaped Calzones, had chocolate fondue (yum!) and went the movie 'When in Rome.' Then late on the eve of her birthday the door bell rang, only to find our front entry had been toilet papered by a sweet friend who also made a fun poster and left a gift. That was a nice fun surprise for Emily! (Thanks Ashley!) Anyway, here are the pics! Happy Birthday to our lovely, sweet, and beautiful young lady! Blowing out the candles on the chocolate cake!
Lighting the candles........

One of her birthday gifts was a new dress she wanted. I need to get a picture of her in it.... she looks very beautiful all dressed up!

Surprise!

Happy Birthday Emily!

Fun Kid Pics!

2010-02-09T09:10:00.000-08:00

Here's just a few fun and silly pics from the past couple of weeks. Natalie is always asking for me to take photos of her doing things, so she is in most of the photos here. :)Natalie & Lucy

Brady our tv addict!

Matt & Natalie!

Happy New Year....2010!!!

2010-01-01T10:25:00.000-08:00

From all of us, especially Natalie, Happy New Year!!

A Visit from Down Under

2010-01-01T10:05:00.000-08:00

My nephew Kurt came to visit from Australia for a month so we had a great time showing him the sights of the USA! Here's a few memories! I got this picture out of order, but I wanted to put it in. We went to a Steelhead's Ice Hockey game and had a great time. Here is Mark, Katie, Emily & Kurt!

Kurt at Temple Square

Brady & Natalie all bundled up and waiting for the lights to come on!

Kurt again...... :)

Me, the kids, and Mark's sister Tracy & family on the steps of the Temple

Nephews, nieces, cousins, aunts and uncles.... we are family!

Our first sledding trip with Brady!

Kurt's first sledding trip too. There wasn't much snow, but we made the

best of what there was!

Kurt and Natalie zooming by!

All bundled up having fun!

A great fun picture of Kurt!

At a Steelhead's Ice Hockey Game. Kurt loved it and said he thinks he has a new favourite sport!

Smile!

It was a great game and action packed! Lots of fun and great times with Kurt!

Merry Christmas 2009

2010-01-01T09:54:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!Brady got a guitar and a 4 wheeler! Wooohoo!
Natalie liked her Tinkerbell backpack :)

Matt got a BYU football.... look out!

Santa came! Yay!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Acting out the Christmas story with our puppets... very fun!

Making Gingerbread houses.... YUM!

Caught 'red handed' from all those red sprinkles!

Lots of fun memories from 2009

All Dressed Up for Halloween!

2009-11-07T10:23:00.001-08:00

Here are the photos from Halloween night this year. Natalie was a Princess, Brady a Giraffe, Matt a Vampire, and Kaitlyn a Fortune Teller! They all looked FABULOUS & CUTE & VERY ADORABLE!! The Giraffe & The Princess My cute Brady!

A Beautiful Natalie!

A Scary Matt!!

Ahhh!! Matt makes a great looking Vampire!

All the kids with Matt's friend Kyle.

Our Pretty Fortune Teller!

Natalie waiting for her fortune to be told.... I think it means they are in for a fun night!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Party II

2009-11-07T10:10:00.000-08:00

Ok, so a parent said to me after this year's Halloween party for the kids, that now that we've had a party 2 years in a row, it must now be a tradition! Hmmmm, I'm not convinced yet, but maybe! We had another fun party for some of Josh & Emily's friends this year, with lots of food, a fun scavenger hunt, and a scary movie to end with! I think they all had a really good time, and here's the proof! Emily & Ashley.... Twin blonde soccer player ballerina fairy princesses! Now that's a mouthful!
Eating some snacks before the pizza arrived...

Some of the boys.....Emily spray painted Josh's hair pink!

Hey, it's Michael Jackson.... aka Jacob!

Hey, Ashley ran into Spongebob on their scavenger hunt!

And Cruella Deville!

The "Electric Chair" man in our friend's haunted garage!

Hang out after the scavenger hunt....

Food!

Fun with Emily's friends!

This was the boys idea of fun..... playing a drinking game with cards and some soda!

Whatever keeps them happy right?!

Carving Pumpkins

2009-11-07T09:59:00.001-08:00

Every year we have a FHE night where we carve pumpkins. This year only Kaitlyn and Matt wanted to do it.... I guess Josh and Emily think they are too old for that now! Party poopers! Katie & Matt had a fun time deciding what kind of faces to carve on their pumpkins and then we took pictures when we were all done. Smile!
Matt's pumpkin.... it has a scare on the side of its' face!

Katie's pumpkin has "hearts" in his eyes! Must be true love!

There's a spider on the loose! Agghh!!

Lights out!

Crazy Hair Day

2009-11-07T09:50:00.000-08:00

The kids had Crazy Hair Day at school and Kaitlyn came up with the idea to stick a cup on her head and make a pony tail around it so it looks like she has a cone head! It looked pretty funny! Matt just went with a faux hawk... if that's how you spell it!

A Twilight Halloween!

2009-10-25T15:31:00.001-07:00

Well with Halloween comes fun Halloween Parties and time to be creative and decide what we should wear for an Adult Halloween party that Mark and I were invited to. This year thanks to Emily's genius (hehe!) Mark & I decided to go as Edward and Bella from Twilight! Mark was an awesome looking Edward!! I can't say I looked that much like Bella, but it was fun being a cool accessory to Mark! We had a bunch of people at the party tell us how much Mark looked like Edward and even our kids had to look twice! It was very fun! We were even voted as Best Couple at the party and won a prize. There we some really cool costumes at the parties from Cruella Deville, to Popeye and Olive Oil. Thanks to our friends Mindy and Dave for a great night!

Here we are.... doesn't Mark look fabulous?! Note the apple, and Mark's sparkles, oh and my

t-shirt....

it says "My Boyfriend is a Vampire"! Thanks for letting me borrow your t-shirt Emily!

I always knew Edward....I mean Mark was the most handsomest man around! Mark even wore sparkles. Not many REAL men would do that (or wear make up for that matter!) for their wife and all for a good cause of a Halloween party! Thanks honey!

New Family Pictures

2009-10-24T09:05:00.001-07:00

Last week we finally went out and got new family pictures taken. It has been almost a year and a half since we've had a family portrait done so it was probably about time! I would really notice that we needed new photos each time I would look at Brady's picture. Natalie was not the most cooperative for pictures this year. Even with me trying to bribe her with candy didn't seem to help. And then there was Brady.... I'm amazed they got a good one of him smiling because he spent a lot of the time crying! It is hard to get everyone looking at the camera and smiling when you have 8 people in the picture. I told the photographer to just take the picture and not worry about everyone looking when it came to getting one of all the kids. I think their picture turned out pretty cute inspite of what they were all doing. So here are a few , and then you can also look on the side of my blog for some others. I have also posted some additional ones on my Facebook page if you are interested!

Making Aprons

2009-10-24T08:46:00.000-07:00

We had our Super Saturday activity the other week where we could make fun crafts and things. One of the things I signed up for was making aprons for kids. I don't sew very often but I had a great time making these and I think they turned out very cute! My little models are even cuter! Brady and his checker board apron.

Natalie is wild about poker dots!

These two were being so cute :)

Cheese!

All done! I enjoyed making them so much a made 5 more yesterday with some other cute fabric. A bigger one for Kaitlyn, and then one for Matt and the rest for Brady and Natalie seeing as they are my messy eaters! Thanks to the great ladies in my ward for teaching me!

Modest Fashion Show by Emily

2009-10-24T08:30:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of October Emily had to put on a Young Women's activity as on of her 10 hour projects from her Personal Project book. She decided to put on a Modest Fashion Show for the 10-11 year old Activity Day girls from our ward. But, she put a little twist on it! She decided it would be fun to incorporate how to have modesty with Halloween Costumes! Very creative I thought. :) She did lots of planning and made cute invitations. She even had a dress rehearsal with the other YW so they would know what to do. She put a lot of time and effort into her project. When the night came, she did a great job welcoming the girls, talking to them about Modesty, playing games, and decorating cupcakes at the end. She even had fun creative things to say about each's girl costume as they walked the cat walk! She did a fabulous job and I was really proud of her. It was a fun night for all the girls so here are a few photos! Emily decorated the YW's Room for her Fashion Show
Rachel strutting her stuff as a modest punk rocker!

Melissa was a modest cheerleader!

Kinley was very modest in her costume too.... I think she was supposed to be a cat!

After a quick costume change and a game of Broomstick Limbo, the girls came back as a Twister Board, Minney Mouse, a Cowgirl and an Evil Babysitter.

After the Fashion show they decorated cupcakes. Yum!

Kaitlyn is part of the Activity Day group and this is her best friend Addy.

Great job Emily!!

Run Emily Run!

2009-10-24T08:26:00.000-07:00

Emily was on the Cross Country team at school this year and she did really well. Each time she ran she improved on her time and she said she really enjoyed the exercise. Good for her! Here are a couple of pics I snapped at one of their meets.Go Emily!
Sprinting to the finish... Emily is in a tie with the other girl from her school.

Feeling Blue!

2009-10-24T08:20:00.000-07:00

The other night Mark and I had gone out while the older kids babysat. When we got home I went up stairs to check on the younger kids who were asleep only to find little Miss N covered in blue ink!! She had managed to get a hold of a blue stamp and must have thought it was like lipstick, and she smeared it all over her pretty little face! Hehehe... It was so funny I had to take a picture. :) Just couldn't resist! So here she is, caught red.... hummm, I mean BLUE handed!

What 37 Looks Like!

2009-09-15T11:14:00.001-07:00

So this week I got to celebrate another year with my birthday. At first glance, I thought 37 looks scary!! But as I thought about it, I hope that 37 looks happy, because that is what my life is. Very blessed, and full of joy and happiness. Here are a few pictures for posterity... along with some fun cupcakes I made for the kids for my birthday cake. My kids & hubby are the joy of my life!
Me........

Here are my attempt at making "Shark Attack" Cupcakes!

They didn't turn out quite as cute looking as the ones in my recipe book, but they still tasted good and the kids ate them so that's all that matters right?!

Some beautiful flowers my friend Mona brought by.

Thank you Mona! You are so kind and sweet!

The Start of Another School Year

2009-09-12T09:28:00.000-07:00

Well the summer holidays are done and now it is back to school for some of my kids. Every year I take photos of the kids on the first day of school, and this year was no different........except for the fact that Josh DROVE to school! Agghh! Josh is starting his Sophmore year (10) of high school, and with it comes a brand new license to drive. He gets to help me out with taking Emily to school which is nice. She goes to a school out of our bussed area so we have to take her and pick her up. Emily is starting her final year of Middle School - 8th grade. Next year I will have 2 high schoolers! Wow. Where has the time gone. Josh has a heavy school schedule this year which includes an AP History class that he can get college credit for, and his second year of Chinese. He is also on the Robotics team where they will be building a robot and competing in a national competition year next year. He is the computer programmer for the project. Emily is on the Cross-Country team, playing flute, trombone and piano in band and jazz band this year, and taking 10th Grade Geometry. She is also playing soccer while Josh is back referreeing.

Emily & Josh

Next we have Kaitlyn and Matt, who had their own set of wheels to drive to school this year! Hehe! Matt has been dying to be able to ride his bike to school since kindergarten, but this is the first year I would actually let him. Those of you that know Matt can probably guess why.... he is a crazy boy!! Hopefully now he has a little bit more common sense to go with that bike! He is starting 2nd Grade and seems to be really liking it so far. His teacher has great rewards for kids that complete work and go over and beyond with reading and other things which is always a great motivator for Matt. You can dangle a candy bar in front of that boy and he'll do anything! He is back taking piano lessons after a break over the summer and is playing Flag Football for the first time this fall. He is a rough and tumble kid so I think he really likes the physicality of football. He has his first game today, so I'm excited to see him in action! Kaitlyn is in 5th grade this year and is now at the top of the school. Next year she'll be in Middle School and back at the bottom of the totom pole again. She likes her teacher and has a new friend in her class that is also in her class at church named Damiana. Kaitlyn was excited about that because her best friend Addy got put in a different class to her. Kaitlyn is going to start playing Volleyball next week and is also playing soccer. That will keep her busy for awhile!

Kaitlyn & Matt

Matt getting all settled at his desk.

Lastly, I have my two little helpers that are left at home with me! Natalie and Brady are good buddies that keep each other entertained. One thing they both love to do is help vacuum. Brady is obsessed wth the vacuum cleaner for some reason! He screams like crazy if I don't let him help, and he loves to push it over so it crashes to the ground. Natalie just loves to help with anything. She loves to help me cook, clean and do other house chores. I better get her on the job chart while she's excited about doing something because we all know that won't last long! I have fun with these two and we've enjoyed having time together to go to the park and go on bike rides. I need to cherish every minute because it won't be long before these two are all grown up and going to school and the house will be all silent. What will I do with myself then??!! Hmmm, I'm sure I'll find something!

Another Camping Adventure

2009-08-16T15:47:00.000-07:00

This summer we've been out camping a few times which has been really fun for us. This was another adventure we had a few weeks ago up at McCall. Josh had been working up at the scout camp there so while Emily and Kaitlyn were spending a week with their Louisianna cousins and G'ma & G'pa the rest of us went to visit Josh. We took Lucy our dog with us and she did great. I think she loved it. McCall is such a great place to camp and the lake is so pretty. I think we need to go camp there every year! I loved being out under the stars at night, cooking over a camp fire, and seeing deer run right through our camp! Matt got such a fright when they came within a few feet of him while he was crouched down looking for some sticks for the fire. It scared him half to death! He went running off as fast as he could screaming "DEER!" It was pretty hilarious! The deer ran one way and Matt went the other, and then a few seconds later the deer turned around and came running back towards our camp again! They can run fast! It was a memorable camping trip. Taking a walk by the lake at sunset
Natalie blowing bubbles

Mark by the camper

Our camp site

Brady zonked out! This boy can sleep anywhere I reckon!

Matt, Natalie, Brady & Lucy

Playing at the lake.... Brady wasn't too sure about the water at first.

Matt swimming. The water is so clear too.

Brady playing in the sand

Natalie and Brady

Making sand castles and digging holes

Pouring in the water

Matt going back for more! One thing that happened to Matt while playing at the lake was that he was playing with this other little boy and they were collecting rocks for their sand creation and when they went to pick up this rather big rock they dropped it on Matt's foot! Ouch!! Poor Matt screamed and had a pretty sore toe and foot for about a week after that. He was lucky he didn't break his foot.

Our Summer Holiday!

2009-08-10T13:40:00.000-07:00

We had a great time on our trip to Northern Idaho this past week. We drove up to Spokane, Washington, and then onto Coeur d'Alene Idaho, and then on to Sandpoint and even to the Canada Border! We couldn't go that far and not at least stop at the border! We rode fast, scary rollercoasters, played at the waterpark, hiked in Bear country (yes that's real Grizzly and Black bears thank you!!), saw waterfalls, camped at a beautiful lake, canoed, and finished our trip off with a trip to the emergency room for Brady and then a minor wreck on the way home too..... thankfully no one was hurt, just a front bumper that needs replacing. So here are a few pictures from our trip and a brief explaination to go with it. :)

Mark getting our camper all set to go and our new car. It has some much needed room for our BIG family!
Downtown Spokane, Washington. Playing in the water fountains at the park. It was one hot day too so it felt really good!

Natalie and Matt having fun.

Now that's what I call one BIG wagon! It had a slide on it for the kids to slide down on after climbing to the top. The kids had a fun time playing on this.

Brady & Katie go for a slide!

At Spokane Falls. Emily and Natalie climbing some stairs with a big bridge in the background.

At the Falls. They had a Gondola ride you could take over the falls but they had to shut it down when we were there because it was so hot. 115 Degrees Farenheit in the cabins!! Yikes!

Up in cooler country.... near the Canadian border hiking to a place called Copper Falls. There was a sign posted saying beware of Grizzy & Black Bears here. Some of our kids were pretty terrified by that and we had a hard time convincing them to get out of the car! It made for a very exciting hike!!

At the Falls, and thankfully no Grizzlies waiting for us!

Hiking back.....

Matt taking a break by a stream. It was a really pretty hike.

At Bonner's Ferry, just south of the Border. The American Flag flying high here!

At the Canadian Border. The country side was just gorgeous up here.

The Canadian side of the border. The cars lining up to go through the check point.

This "line" in the mountains is on both sides of the road. It is the unoffical border line between the two countries.... seriously! Maybe this gives Border Patrol an easier view of those people trying to make a run for it?!

The International Boundary line. I'm on the Canadian side.

Back to the good ol' US of A!

Camping at Round Lake, near Sandpoint, Idaho. The countryside was so beautiful up here! Mark getting the fire ready for cooking dinner.

Matt

Brady playing in the dirt.... this boy was so dirty when he was all done! I guess that's all part of camping.

Round Lake

Emily, Kaitlyn & I in a canoe on the lake. We made it back just in time before a big thunderstorm hit and it poured with rain. We did NOT want to be stuck in a metal canoe on the lake with that storm!

Waiting out the storm.....

Thankfully it only rained for about 20 minutes and then once it cleared up it was a beautiful day.

Swimming and relaxing on the lake. Little Brady fell asleep on my lap!

Going for an afternoon hike around the lake..... we got about a quarter of the way around and decided we'd take a short cut back across a small inlet in the lake. As we started crossing in the water, this beaver below started swimming straight towards us! Then he disappeared and next thing we knew he popped up again about 10 feet away from Kaitlyn & I, scarring us half to death!! Mark said Kaitlyn ran on water to get away from it! He'd never seen her move so fast! I was carrying Brady on my back so I just had to squeal and move as best I could on the slippery rocks! It is pretty funny to think about now. That Beaver was not scared of us one little bit!

The little critter!!

Some beautiful scenery - a bit different from the mountains full of pine trees. Still very pretty though. This was just outside of Lewiston, Idaho on our drive back to McCall.

Our last photo is of poor little Brady the day after he took a spill on a slippery picnic table while I was trying to make dinner over a fire in the pouring rain. He ended up with 5 stitches and had to be sedated so they could make sure he would stay still. Then on our way home, in the pouring rain, we rear ended an old lady after she slammed on her breaks in some slow and go traffic. The roads were so slippery it was just an unfortunate accident. We will need a new bumper on our car, and her car is an older car which we think will end up being totalled. Probably not worth getting fixed. Maybe she'll be a good candidate for the 'Cash for Clunkers' program! Thankfully both her and everyone in our car is safe and ok, so that is what's most important. Just not a very fun way to end our vacation. Overall, we had a wonderful time making memories as a family, and seeing some of the most beautiful country around. I wish I could capture better their amazing beauty with my camera. I guess for those of you who really want to know just how pretty it is, you'll just have to come and see it for yourself!! Hint hint.... come stay with us anytime!

Kaitlyn's Birthday Cake

2009-06-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, so you really have to see this! My sister-in-law Suzy makes the most amazing birthday cakes! It was Katie's birthday and we were going to be in Utah for it so I asked her if she would help surprise me with a cool birthday cake to go along with a surprise of Jonas Brother concert tickets for her. So she whipped up this awesome cake, and did it all by herself without a pattern or anything! She is amazing! Thank you Suzy! It was such a yummy cake too, and Katie was so surprised to find out she is going to the J/Brothers concert with her best friend and her mom. She can not wait! Happy Birthday Kaitlyn! We love you!

Roses are pink........

2009-06-22T19:44:00.000-07:00

I just love this time of year when my roses start to bloom. I have been trying to grow climbing roses for the past 3 years and this year has got to be the best yet. They seem to bloom for about 3 weeks, and the yellow ones always start blooming first. But when the pink ones come out, they are just beautiful and it is just a big wall of colour! I love it. So here are a few before and after pictures of the roses as they started to bud out, and then our garden as it started to grow. It has just exploded in the past 3 weeks with all the rain we have had. It is even bigger now than these pictures I have on here at the moment. We hope to have a great garden this year. A beautiful yellow rose.....
When the yellows ones started to bloom...

Not too many pink ones yet......

Now the pink ones are eveywhere!

Not so many yellow anymore. :(

Back on May 30th.... just started to grow....

We have radishes, tomatoes, spinach, corn, watermelon, cucumbers, beans, peas, strawberries, potatoes, green onions, squash and zuchinni, and parsley! Oh, and carrots too!

Just 11 days later......... it had grown heaps!

Amazing what a little or a lot of rain can do!

Natalie's Wedding

2009-06-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

I got to attend the wedding of some dear friends of mine this past weekend in Utah. This family is the reason I am here in the US, and the reason I have all that I have here, namely my sweet husband and children. If it wasn't for Bill and Ann........ who knows where I'd be! I have known them since I was 13 years old, and their daughter Natalie just got married on Friday. I have known her since she was a baby!! I used to babysit her! It was so fun to see her get married. She is a sweet, sweet girl. It was so good to catch up with their family and wish Bill & Ann the best of luck before they head off to India to be the new M/Presidents there. They will be awesome. Congratulations Natalie & Robby and best of luck to a very happy life together! The mom & bride
Father of the bride and me

Bride & Groom

Cutting the cake!

It's Beginning to Feel A Bit Like SUMMER!!! HOORAY!!!

2009-05-25T08:23:00.001-07:00

Finally, the weather is starting to get warmer! Yay! The other day was so nice that the kids got the water on the trampoline and had a fun time playing outside. I love summer! (I know, it's still spring but I can't help but say it when the weather is so warm!) The grass is looking green, the leaves are back on the trees, and the flowers are blooming! Life is beautiful.Matt & Natalie jumping!

Being silly and having fun..... that's what it's all about!

Lucy

One of my hanging baskets.... so gorgeous!

Katie, so gorgeous too!

Mi Mi enjoying the sun and reading a book!

Brady is figuring out that being outside is great!

New Do

2009-05-25T08:07:00.000-07:00

So it was time....... I've had longer hair for the past few years and it was starting to take way too long to do everyday. With 2 busy toddlers running around, a puppy, and 4 older kids I needed a change and something shorter. So at the request of my sister-in-law Tracy here are a couple of pics of my new do! (Please ignore all the wrinkles......hehehe!) Mark thinks it looks abit like a Victoria Beckham aka Posh Spice hairdo, just not as short.

Never Befriend a Wounded Cat!

2009-04-21T21:16:00.000-07:00

Poor Kaitlyn had a rough afternoon today. She was walking home from school and noticed a cat in the bushes and said that it looked like it was injured. She went over to pick it up and see if it was ok, when the cat turned wild on her and climbed up her arm and onto her head, scratching 2 big gashes into her scalp. She came home crying and very shook up and when Mark saw it he knew pretty much immediately that it looked like it needed stitches. I took her to the bathroom and tried to clean things up as best we could and then Mark took her down to Quick Care where they said she needed 6 staples in her head. Ouch! Poor thing. It wasn't a very fun experience for her but she was very brave Mark said. Tonight she told me she doesn't like cats anymore and I can't say I blame her! She was trying to be nice and she ended up scratched up and hurt because of it. We hope you feel better soon Katie. :( Sounds like she'll have to have the staples in for at least a week and on antibiotics too. You never know what kind of infectious diseases that ferral cat may have had! I'm glad Mark was home when this all happened.

Our New Fire Pit

2009-04-21T21:03:00.000-07:00

We have had some gorgeous weather lately and so with that comes yard work and bbq's. We've been talking about adding a fire pit so we decided to go ahead and do it. I had to dig up a bunch of grass and it took all afternoon to do, but we got it finished with a path included. I think it turned out pretty good considering we did the work ourselves. The kids are really excited about it and couldn't wait for us to have a fire and roast some marshmallows. So Saturday we fired up the bbq and had a yummy dinner and then finished off the night roasting marshmallows and making smores. It was fun and the kids loved it. Here are some pictures!Mark is the Master of the BBQ! He makes the best hamburgers!
Kaitlyn and her friend Addy.

Natalie, Matt & his friend Tristan.

All set up ready for the fire & marshmallows!

All the fire bugs........

Matt loaded up his stick of course!

The girls!

It was a fun night and we look forward to more bbq's, fires and marshmallows as summer approaches.

Brady Gets Buzzed!

2009-04-21T20:53:00.000-07:00

Brady had his first official haircut last week. His hair was getting rather long, and whilst he had some really cute curls at the back, it was looking a bit untidy so it was time!! Here are a few pics of his new do! He looks like a handsome little boy now. So cute!

This one was taken right after it was all done. He was a really good boy through it all too. The poor thing did end up with a bunch of hair in his mouth though and that didn't make him too happy after a while. Can't say I blame him either! Overall he did great!

Easter, Birthdays & Puppy Dog Tales.....

2009-04-13T11:15:00.001-07:00

Ok, so be fair warned, there are lots of photos to this entry. I've been slow to get on and update things because life has been busy. But finally we have some photos from Easter, Josh's birthday, and our new puppy named Lucy.

First we have photos of our Easter Sunday. The weather was beautiful and sunny and even warm if you can believe that! This is the first Easter Sunday in as many years as I can remember that it was warm enough to go outside and enjoy an easter egg hunt. When we came home from church we hid the kids' easter baskets outside and they had fun finding where they were. Then later in the day we had the easter egg hunt, but by then the sun had gone and it was overcast again. So here are some photos of the kids enjoying there loot! My beautiful girls!

Emily & Lucy

All the fam, except Brady didn't want to cooperate!

Brady was more interested in other things.

Enjoying hanging out on the grass.

Josh checking out what the Easter Bunny brought him! Candy is always a good thing. :)

Sponge Bob.... oh I mean Matt!

Emily being a show off!

Natalie finds an egg!

And so does Emily.... lucky her!

Kaitlyn is thinking and wondering where more eggs are.....

JOSH'S BIRTHDAY

Josh just turned 15 and had a nice birthday. The cake wasn't very fancy this year, partly because he said he didn't want anything special (so you don't have to tell me twice not to go to too much effort when it comes to cooking!), but also because my first cake I made was invaded by ants. There were ants everywhere the next morning in the kitchen so the cake had to be thrown away. We've had an ant invasion in our house which is driving me crazy. We've put out some ant bait hoping to take care of it. We think they are coming in from the garage. Anyway, happy birthday to our almost sweet Josh! One more year and then he'll officially be sweet. ;) We love you!

Eating Cake and Ice-cream. Doesn't take much to make the boy happy!

AND NOW OUR NEW PUPPY!

This is our new puppy Lucy! Mark surprised the kids and I the other day with this adorable little thing. Mark is a big softy and I guess decided she would be ok to have after one of his patients said he couldn't keep her. Sounds like he'd been planning this all for awhile, as his patient was getting it for his wife but didn't know if that was going to work out. As it turned out, the wife told him the dog had to go....... she said it was either her or the dog! So Mark was sweet and gave into his kids and brought a puppy home, unbeknowst to us! It was a fun surprise. She is a Shitzhu and seems to be very sweet and smart. Hopefully she'll keep being a nice dog. We've all enjoyed her so far so fingers crossed! She is just a little thing and is only about 10 weeks old. She was born on January 26th, Australia Day, so perhaps that is a good omen of good luck for us!

Awww.... so cute!

First Steps!

2009-03-27T08:07:00.000-07:00

This is for Mum & Dad. Brady taking his first few steps the night before his Birthday!

Happy Birthday Brady!

2009-03-27T07:51:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it has been a year already! Our little Brady just turned one and it was so fun to celebrate his birthday with Mark's family. Brady was a show off and decided he could walk after we'd sung to him and he'd eaten his birthday cupcake. It was so funny. He'd only ever taken a few steps before that, so to suddenly see him just get up and go..... it was pretty cool! And in front of the G'parents too! I'm so glad they could be there to see him do that. There is no stopping Mr.B now either! He is non-stop and hasn't stopped walking since. He is a little bruised up because he keeps falling and banging his head, but he is definately very persistant and determined because that hasn't slowed him down any. Brady is a sweetheart and we love him and are so glad he's part of our family. Happy Birthday! Getting a good look at him for the first time.
How adorable!

Here's your cake.......

Yum!

Playing with his green car he got from Gran & Grampy.

Happy "Pink" Birthday!

2009-03-08T15:50:00.000-07:00

Natalie had her birthday this week and she was so adorable all day! Everything was all about "Pink!" Whenever you would ask her about her birthday she would start by saying it was her "Pink Birthday". She would tell us she wanted pink cupcakes, and pink strawberries and when I asked her what she wanted to eat for dinner she just said Pink! She also wanted a pink bouncy ball. She got a pink dress and wore it all day, and also got some pretty pink shoes with a matching crown, necklace, ring from G'ma. She was really cute when she first woke up. She came in our bedroom and the first thing she said was "I'm bigger!" She had a fun day with a trip to the movies, lunch at McDonald's and a Pajama party with Matt and Katie where they stayed up and got to camp out in the Bonus Room. It was a great birthday and she is so cute. Happy Birthday Natalie! We love you.Beautiful pink birthday girl!
Getting ready to open presents and Matt holding up 3 fingers.

Her pink bouncy ball.

Natalie's pink princess flashlight and pretty pink dress.

Pulling a crazy face!

Her pink cupcakes.

Getting ready to blow out candles.

Make a wish!

All worn out at the end of the day.......

Happy Birthday!

Emily's National History Day Competition

2009-03-08T15:28:00.000-07:00

This weekend Emily participated in a Regional National History Day competition for school. She is in the Gift & Talented Program at school and had to do some kind of project based on someone in History and say why they thought that person changed history. Emily chose to do a group performance with 2 other girls from her class. Emily's group chose Beethoven and Emily wrote the script for the performance. They had to highlight 3 aspects of his life and she chose Endurance, Passion, and Independence. Each girl had to portray that trait and Emily was Endurance. The performance had to be about 8 minutes long and all memorized. Emily's group performed on Saturday morning and then on Saturday afternoon they announced the winners. The top 2 from each catagory (different catagories included website designs, documentaries, performance, displays, historical papers) goes on to perform at the State Competition in April. Well, guess what?! Emily's group won!! Out of all the schools in the area that competed they were the best! Hurray for Emily! We are so proud of her. They did a great job and what an accomplishment! If they place in the top 2 at State, she will go on to compete at Nationals in Washington DC. That would be so cool! We wish her, Alisa, and Kayce the very best of luck! Awesome job! She had to dress in a period type costume and this is what we came up with! Her hair was curled in ringlets and I think she looks great!
A picture Alisa, Kayce and Emily before their performance.

Alisa wore pink to represent passion, and Kayce wore blue to represent Independence and Emily green for Endurance. The choice of colours had to be reflected in their submitted written paper.

Tag!

2009-03-04T09:00:00.000-08:00

This is from my sweet sister-in-law Cindy!

Rules:

Go to your picture files. Open the 6th folder, and the 6th picture. Post it on your blog and tell the story of the picture. Then tag 6 people.

Here is MY picture!

About 2 years ago we had a big spring storm that came up from out of nowhere. The sky got very dark and the wind started to blow. I was watching out the window and saw our trampoline get lifted a few feet by the wind. I went outside and moved the trampoline up against the fence hoping to help secure it. A few minutes later we were looking out the front window and saw balls rolling down the street. (Our kids like to play with lots balls on the trampoline.) When I ran outside to get one of the balls, I suddenly saw our Trampoline, upside on our mail box! The wind had picked it up and carried it over our 6 foot fence and it landed about 30 feet away in the street! It was quite the sight! Our kids thought it was so funny and pretty amazing. That was one strong wind! Needless to say that our trampoline was a complete loss, and has since been replaced by another one that has been tied down to our fence with a rope! Hopefully no more flying trampolines.

Tag to..... Holly, Candee, Deedra, Leanna, Jackie & Rosie. (Only if you want to!)

In Memory.....

2009-03-02T13:47:00.000-08:00

Just this past week I found out some very sad news about a dear friend of mine from home. I have been friends with Kylie since I was about 16 years old. We went to Girl's camp together, Stake Dances, and other fun things where we would just hang out. We have remained good friends even though we lived many miles away. We would email and instant message each other. Kylie was the one who told me while "chatting" about Middleton High School being on fire when she lived halfway around the world!! I hadn't heard from her in awhile and had been trying to get in touch with her again so this past week I sent her husband an email asking him to have Kylie email me. He wrote back to me and shared with me that she had passed away. He said she had been suffering from depression for some time and the pain became too much and she took her own life. I was totally shocked. I am so heartbroken for her and her family. She leaves behind a loving husband and 3 beautiful children. It is so sad to me. She was married in the temple, and had so much. I am just so thankful for the Savior. He knows us, and he is the only one who can know what we are going through. I know he can heal us and make us whole. I am grateful to know she is in a better place where she is free of the pain and suffering she must have felt. She was a dear friend, and will be sadly missed.

An old picture of the two of us, in happier times.

My Little Escape Artist!

2009-03-02T13:40:00.000-08:00

Mr. Brady is getting to be very tricky lately! He has figured out that no gate, chair or blockade that I use to lock him in somewhere is too big or tall for him to escape from! He can move just about everything I put in his way lately. I caught him this afternoon standing on the stairs trying to lift the latch so he could open the gate and go upstairs. I think I'm going to be in for it when he starts walking... arggghh! He is just too clever! What a little monkey!
There's no stopping me now!

HA!! Gotcha Mum!

My Cuties

2009-03-02T13:34:00.000-08:00

On Saturday morning I caught these two cuties sitting together on the couch watching cartoons. It was so cute to see Matt holding his brother and being so sweet to him. Matt's a great big brother and looks after his younger brother and sister too. Just wanted to share this moment with ya!
I love Natalie's face!

Emily's Birthday - Sweet 13!

2009-02-03T12:21:00.000-08:00

Well Emily is now officially a teenager! She has gone from being a sweet, adorable baby to my adorable and (hopefully will continue to be....!) sweet girl! She is definately turning into one outstanding young lady and we love her a lot! Here are a few pics from her birthday.

Emily - 8 days old.....
now 13 years old!
So beautiful!

Emily opening a few of her presents

Can't be a cool teenager without some cool sunglasses!

Emily wanted me to make Chicken Enchilladas for her Birthday dinner.....

Eating her food!

The Birthday Cake! Yum!

Emily getting ready to make a wish!

Enjoying some cake!

Happy Birthday Mi Mi!

Brady

2009-02-03T12:18:00.000-08:00

Brady was so funny the other day. I was on the computer and he was in his little walker and he was totally fascinated by the bright sunlight that was coming in through the window. He would move his head back and forward seeing how the light would shine on him and then disappear. It was so cute to watch. Then when he was all done he just sat there and looked like he was in deep thought! I love this photo of him!

Ready for Church

2009-02-03T12:14:00.000-08:00

Matt & Natalie were being so cute on Sunday morning that I just had to take a picture of them. I thought Matt looked so handsome and Natalie so pretty! What cuties I have. :)

Girl's Beauty Shop!

2009-01-19T13:17:00.001-08:00

Mark's sister Kristy just got back from her mission in Brazil at the end of December and this past weekend she came up to visit us. It was so great to see her and she looks so good and happy. She shines with a special light! The kids really loved seeing her and playing with her. Kristy was so nice and played lots of games with the kids, and even let Katie and Natalie play "beauty shop" with her. She was a good sport while the girls brushed and pulled her hair! It was a fun weekend spending time with her. Can you tell Natalie & Katie are sisters? Look at their mouth! They both have the exact same expression while brushing Kristy's hair!
Kristy being very patient!
Now it's Kaitlyn's turn to have her hair done.

And then there is scary me! I went and had my hair coloured this week and decided to be blonde no more! Not that I was ever really blonde, but I had quite light highlights and was ready to go back to the dark side! I think it looks darker.

Sledding or Shoveling?

2009-01-04T19:58:00.000-08:00

Ok, sometimes I hate the blog format of adding photos........ I forget to add this cute photo of my nephew Gideon with the rest of the pictures of the kids, and the only place it will go is at the top of my blog entry! That's ok, he's a cutie and this is a fun picture to start out with. ;)

This weekend we had a fun visit from Mark's sister Julie, her husband Randy, and their sweet kids (my cute nieces & nephews!). They are out here visiting family and were so nice to drive up here to see us as well as Laurie & Klayne. We thought it would be fun to spend the day sledding and roasting hot dogs, so we set out for a day of fun in the snow. When we got to the place, because of rain during the week, they weren't letting people go sledding at our usual spot because they said people had been getting stuck in the snow and couldn't get out. So they sent us to another spot just up the road and told us it should be just fine there. Well when we got there we decided to drive into this open area, not thinking that would be a problem. The snow looked fine to drive on. Next thing we know our tires are spinning and having a hard time on the ice so we decided we better turn back around and park on the side of the road. Randy and Julie were following us in their car, but unfortunately weren't as lucky to get out like we did. They found themselves stuck in the snow; all the tires would do was spin like crazy and not get them anywhere! Mark must have been inspired before we left because he had brought a shovel with us and so we were able to use that to try and dig them out. So to make a long story short....... about 3 hours later (or longer....), we were finally able to get them out, after digging a track about 50 feet back from the car to an area where they could get out! We did get some sledding in, but I'd say we got more shoveling than anything! Made for a fun and memorable day! This was the main tire that was sunk deep in the snow. There was a layer of ice, then powdered snow, then another layer of ice under that, so the car just sunk and did not want to go anywhere!

All the men and Emily helping to rock the car in hopes of trying to push it out!

Giving up on the pushing........ let the shoveling begin!

About 3 hours later..... the guys were hot and tired in this 10 degree F weather! You'd never know it was that cold looking at what they were wearing!

Me roasting a hot dawg!

Mark's sister Julie. Is that a cheese stick on that roasting stick I see?!

Some of the cousins! Natalie (by the table), then Peter, Matt & Kaitlyn.

Little Paul & sweet Mary Joy.

Peter & Matt. Where are your gloves?!!

Ada was a little shy. :)

Julie and her friend (and ours!) Rosie. They were roommates in College.

Oh, and by the way, Happy New Year!

Kaitlyn's Doll

2008-12-26T09:02:00.000-08:00

Here is a little bit better view of the dress I sewed for Kaitlyn's doll. It turned out really pretty I think. I'll have to try sewing a few more outfits for her doll now that this one turned out ok!

Christmas at our House!

2008-12-26T08:37:00.001-08:00

Here are a few pictures from Christmas morning at our house!Matt got Incredible Hulk Hands! Rrrrrrroarrrrrr!
Mark enjoying Christmas. Thanks for the iTune Gift Card Gran & Grampy!

Emily got several Twilight Posters for her room, and Kaitlyn got an American Girl Doll.
I sewed the dress that her doll is wearing!

(I know, my girls were shocked that I could sew something too!)

Natalie loves the Barbie Toaster and playset you sent Mum!

Great choice! Thanks!

I made Brady this blanket for Christmas.

Brady also got a snowsuit. So cute! He looks like a little Eskimo all bundled up.

At least I know he'll be toasty warm in this.

Katie & Brady.

Merry Christmas!

Our Gingerbread House & Yummy Pavlova

2008-12-26T08:20:00.000-08:00

We did some fun holiday baking over Christmas and on Christmas Eve, we made our first ever Gingerbread House. I made this one all from scratch with the dough and cutting out the house pieces. After I baked it all, I let the kids decorate it and do what they wanted with it! I think they had a good time being creative, but most of all, eating it when they were done! Our "House"
Emily, Matt & Katie at work.

Matt putting some MM's on the roof.

Doing a little bit of frosting!

This picture below is of a Pavlova I made. Pavlova is the national dessert of Australia, and is usually topped with strawberries and passionfruit with the kiwi fruit and bananas. I searched everywhere for fresh strawberries but no luck there. Then I think I'd have to go to Hawaii to find passionfruit or even to find someone that has heard of it! It is a tropical fruit that is very delicious! Oh well. So my pavlova looks a wee bit bare and colourless without the strawberries, but it was still very yummy, and we shared it with some friends last weekend. As always, it was a hit. For those of you that have never had Pavlova, it is made from egg whites and sugar, and has a hard outside shell, with soft marshmallow inside and is topped with fresh whipped cream and fruit. It is truly delicious!

Happy Holidays?!

2008-12-15T14:56:00.000-08:00

Ok, so when you have 6 kids, trying to get a half decent family picture is next to impossible. Someone is either crying, not smiling, or not looking at the silly camera! So as you can see from this array of pictures taken yesterday, we had all of the above. We even picked up a stranger!
Not too bad, but Matt has bunny ears........
I wasn't looking and someone is missing. Can you guess who? Natalie is now screaming!

At least we look like we half like each other!

Here we grew another family member - Emily's best friend Ashley.

I love this picture of Emily & Katie!

Glad we could crack a smile out of someone!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

2008-12-15T14:45:00.000-08:00

Winter is officially here! It has been snowing on and off yesterday and today and boy is it cold. The high today is only 28 degrees F, and later this week that will feel warm after we get 0 - 12 degrees on Saturday; at least that is what they are predicting. Yikes! That is some cold weather. Thank goodness most of my Christmas shopping is all done because there is no way you are going to get me outside when it is that cold! That is when I officially start hibernating for the winter! I'll take hot weather anyday over being stuck in the cold! Brrrrrrr! Katie shovelling the driveway with Matt
Pushing the snow away
Dumping it off to the side

Matt looking a little chilly!

Brady & The Candy Cane

2008-12-09T10:28:00.000-08:00

Last night after we had FHE we had candy canes for treats. We didn't want to leave Brady out, so we let him try a taste of his very first candy cane. Kaitlyn took some photos of him.....Not quite sure what to think at first......
Starting to get the hang of it....

All finished with a very sticky face!

"It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas"

2008-12-03T21:17:00.000-08:00

Since 'I've been dreaming of a White Christmas' for the past 2 days, I decided to get some Christmas decorations put up around the house because ''tis the season to be jolly!' So this year I don't think I did quite as much as in years' past because I have a 2 1/2 year old and an 8 month old who is rolling EVERYWHERE and ready to take off crawling any minute now.......'Joy to the World!' So since 'I'll be home for Christmas' this year, here are a few pics of our 'Little Town of Bethlehem' in Nampa. We send you warm thoughts and wishes from 'up on the housetop' because 'baby it's cold outside!' Our front door, but 'Santa Baby', hurry down the chimney tonight....
'So this is Christmas'........at our House
Our ' Stairway to heaven'.....oh wait, that's not a Christmas song.....

We'll all be 'rockin' around the Christmas tree.....'

And then you can 'bring me some figgy pudding'........

'O Holy Night', 'Silent Night'....Christmas is 'the most wonderful time of the year.'

What a wonderful gift we've been given.

May you enjoy the season, your family, and may we remember it is better to give than to receive.

Merry Christmas

(If you get a chance, enjoy some Christmas music on my playlist too! :)

Our Thanksgiving Weekend

2008-12-01T09:43:00.000-08:00

For Thanksgiving we drove over to Soda Springs to spend the weekend with Mark's parents and family. G'ma & G'pa just returned from a 2 year mission in New York City, so this was the first time in 2 years that we had all gotten together for the holidays. We had a really nice time. I should have taken more pictures. Unfortunately I was too engrossed in my Twilight books........! I did manage to take a few though so here they are.Natalie and her cousin Hannah played outside in what little snow there was on the ground. We did manage to make a "mini" snowman!
Natalie found a big stick in G'ma's backyard and had fun playing with it.

Matt & his cousin Nathan were playing with some balls outside and they threw them up on G'pa's roof. So Josh got to be the lucky one to climb up and retrieve the balls! All I asked was that he didn't slip!

Climibing down.......

Yay! He made it safely back down the ladder.

Katie's Pie & My Cutie Pie :)

2008-11-18T09:58:00.000-08:00

Kaitlyn wanted to cook something the other day so I suggested maybe she could try and make a pie. She has never made one before, and she really likes to bake in the kitchen, so I thought she might have fun doing this. She made an Apple-Cranberry pie which turned out so good! It was sooo yummy too! She did all the work on it, right down to the decorative flower on top in the picture below. Awesome job Katie! And speaking of "pies" here are two cute pictures of MY little Cutie Pie! Poor Brady has been sick with a nasty cough and wheezing lately. He is having breathing treatments at the moment which I hope will help him get better soon. He just turned 8 months old yesterday, and he is just the sweetest little guy. Josh took this picture of Brady wearing his hat.
This picture of Brady and Mark was kind of funny. Brady fell asleep on Mark's lap holding onto the strings of Mark's sweatshirt. It looked so funny to me to see him laying there so straight, and then with his one hand clinging to those strings. He must have had a pretty good grip on them to be fast asleep and not let go!

Young Woman in Excellence Night

2008-11-07T08:27:00.001-08:00

On Wednesday night, Emily got to get all dressed up for a special night. It was their Young Woman in Excellence Night. This is where they honour the girls for their projects that they are working on. It was so fun to see Emily and all the other girls dressed up so pretty. They looked so grown up! Here are a few pictures of Emily from the evening. So pretty. She is growing up way too fast!
Emily and her friend Rachel Grove

All the girls taking turns looking into a mirror and saying:
"I AM Divine!"

Katie's Black Eye

2008-11-04T13:10:00.000-08:00

I promise this is not a Halloween picture! Poor Katie was wrestling with Matt the other day when he accidently socked her in the eye with his knee. OUCH! That is quite the black eye she has. Poor thing. She says it is rather sore too. She was sweet and didn't want to tell me at first that it had happened because she was worried that Matt was going to get into trouble. She said it was just an accident and didn't want him to get grumbled at. (Hmmm, what does that say about me I wonder??!) Don't worry, Matt didn't get in trouble. I just felt bad for Kaitlyn. Maybe one day she can hold this picture over Matt. They say a picture's worth a thousand words so it might be good for some kind of bribe in the future!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T09:41:00.000-07:00

BOO!Like my sweet little Jack'o Lantern?!
How cute is he?!
Happy Halloween from all of US!

Be Afraid..... Be VERY AFRAID!

2008-10-30T16:19:00.000-07:00

Well today I took Josh down to the DMV to get his drivers permit for Driver's Ed. He starts the class on Monday, and will have class for the next 2 weeks. He has to been in class for 30 hours, and then gets about 6 hours of driving time on top of that. After he completes Drivers Ed, he will have to practice driving with a parent for the next 6 months before he will be all official. So like I said..... be afraid, be very afraid!! I can't believe the boy is old enough to drive! I'm sure he'll do just fine, but we sure do like teasing Josh! Good luck ol' boy! Here's to our white knuckles for the next 6 months!

More Halloween Fun......

2008-10-26T07:25:00.000-07:00

Last night we had our "Trunk or Treat" so I took Kaitlyn, Matt & Natalie up to the church for that. Matt was a Pirate, Kaitlyn was Cleopatra (her and Emily are sharing a costume this year), and Natalie was our Princess. After the Trunk or Treat Mark and I went to a Halloween Party for grown ups. I went as Sarah Palin and Mark was Joe Plummer. Kind of lame I know! That was about as creative as I could get without buying a costume. What do you think? I think Mark makes a pretty good Joe the Plummer!Matt, my Pirate. Arrrhhh!
Our Princess Natalie
(She was not very cooperative....)
Katie as Cleopatra

All 3 of them

Vote for Sarah Palin & Joe Plummer!

Like Mark's tatoos?!! He even had a wrench in his back pocket!

I won "Prettiest Costume" for Sarah Palin the Beauty Queen!

Aren't I special!

Halloween Par-tay!!

2008-10-25T11:08:00.001-07:00

Last night Josh and Emily hosted a Halloween Party at our house. We had about 20 kids altogether which made for a full house! They all dressed up and ate pizza, played games, and watched a scary movie - When a Stranger Calls (a good one to get your heart racing!) Two different times all the kids screamed loud - "like REALLY loud" (quote from Emily), even the boys! It was hilarious to watch the kids jump and scream like that! I took some pictures of all the fun and madness of course...... right down to my Root Beer Cauldron complete with dry ice and gummy worms to help make things look a little bit spooky! I even added a frozen hand I made from Kool Aid and a glove which we had floating in the punch. It looked really cool if I may say so myself! It was a really fun night and all the kids had a great time.My Witches Broo!
Some of the girls all dressed up
The girls eating pizza & treats
Some of the boys!

Jannsen & Jacob the Joker

Josh, The Joker, A Goth Princess, The Mad Hatter

& a Game of Twister!

The Evil Cleopatra Emily!

Josh the Biker dude... like the tatoos!

Tim the Nerd. "This is not a costume!" (Quote: Tim)

Sarah the Witch and Tori the Fortune Teller

Jess & Ashley

Playing the Game "I Have Never...." It got pretty crazy!

Some of the madness........

More of the madness! There was a lot of pushing and shoving!

It was fun to watch!

Lions & Tigers and Bears, OH MY!

2008-10-23T21:01:00.000-07:00

Today was another beautiful fall day so I decided to take Natalie and Brady to the Zoo. It was the perfect day and the perfect price - only $3.75! Half price family day on Thursday which is great and then 3 and under is free. So it was a fun outing to take the kids on. We got to see a giraffe peeing...... a frisky lion who also had to relieve himself....... yes folks, it was quite educational! But I think Natalie and Brady had the most fun playing in the leaves. I took some fun photos of our day, so enjoy like we did! Natalie giving Brady a kiss! So sweet!"Hmmm, what's this stuff" says Brady.

Ooooo! Leaves and duck poop!

Natalie thowing the leaves in the pond.

More leaves. Anyone got a rake?

Brady studying a leaf in his hand.

More leaves.......yes, we really did go to the zoo!

Mmmm, tasty!

Ahhh, the frisky lion and lioness. (Playing it cool in this picture!)

The giraffe slide.

Brady kicking back enjoying the ride.

Not too close Mom!

Dinner anyone? How about a game of Fear Factor? Survivor maybe?! About a million Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches!

What a pretty kitty.

The Leopard making himself beautiful.

The Giraffe

Colours of Fall

2008-10-23T20:46:00.000-07:00

I just love the beauty of the seasons here in America. The trees are so gorgeous in the Fall. Here are some pictures I took today at the Boise Zoo. I want to share these with my Aussie family who don't get to see the changes of the Four Seasons like we do here in the US. Just one way we get to see how much God loves us when He shares the beauty of the earth with us.

This is for you Katie! Go HSM 3!

2008-10-20T10:25:00.001-07:00

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We are Family......

2008-10-19T20:12:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had Mark's sister Laurie, her husband Klayne, and our nephew Gideon over for dinner. I decided to get creative and make something fun for dinner so I cooked up these Pumpkin Bowls with Winter Stew in them. They turned out really yummy and everyone enjoyed them. Laurie & Klayne made some great rolls which tasted great too. We had a nice evening chatting and watching the kids play. Gideon and Natalie were really cute playing with her kitchen set. I was trying to take a picture of the two of them and Natalie kept trying to grab Gideon's arm which he wasn't too thrilled about. It was funny watching them. Here are a few pictures from our night. Pumpkin Bowl Winter Stew
Laurie, Klayne & Gideon
Klayne playing Memory with Matt
Natalie trying to grab Gideon and telling him to say "Cheese"
Gideon playing the piano.

Future Quarterback

2008-10-17T14:43:00.000-07:00

A pictures worth a thousand words! This should keep Mark happy - me giving Brady some ball time while he's at work. Here's to our future quarterback.... bring it on baby!

Every body ready?
Down....
Set.........
SMILE!

What about "Mi mi"

2008-10-17T14:31:00.000-07:00

Not to be outdone by her little sister..... Emily (or Mimi as Natalie affectionately calls her!) had to put on her version of a tutu today just to prove her Princess status too. It was Battle of the Sexes day at school today, so the girls were supposed to wear pink and had to try and out do the boys. This was Emily's attempt, right down to pink nails and pink streaks in her hair. You send a girl to school and this is how she comes home! And she says she's not a girly girl! Yeah right!

Princess for a Day!

2008-10-16T08:12:00.000-07:00

I need to make my blog a little more cheerful today after my last entry about our cat. :( So yesterday my friend Shannon came over to show me these adorable Tutu dresses she has been making. She wanted Natalie to model one for her so she could see how one fit. They are such cute little dresses and Natalie loved getting to put one on. Shannon is so talented. So here is our little Princess in one of these pretty tutus! Can you say bippity, boppity boo!

In Memory of our sweet cat Lizzi

2008-10-14T16:59:00.001-07:00

We've had our sweet cat Lizzi (or Lizard as he was also known) for about 4 1/2 years. We first got him when he was just a kitten. We thought he was a "SHE" at first, but then our nice neighbors Eric & Shannon kindly informed us that he was really a HE! It was kind of funny. (Hey, I didn't know what cat anatomy looked like ok!) Well, this afternoon we had something really sad happen. We had 2 big dogs chase Lizzi into our next door neighbors yard and attack him. Our neighbor Lynette came and told Mark Lizzi was hurt in their yard so Mark went to get him. Poor Lizzi was in a bad way. He couldn't move his legs, and he was breathing hard and moaning. It was so awful. It wasn't much longer after that and Lizzi died. It was so sad. You could tell he was in so much pain and was suffering. I just cried and cried. Then I had to break the news to my kids. Poor Katie and Matt toook it really hard, especially Katie. She is pretty heartbroken. She is our animal lover. So this Blog is dedicated to our sweet cat Lizzi. He was such a good cat. Even Mark liked him and that's saying something for Mark because he isn't the fondest of animals. This photo I took of him was actually just taken yesterday - how ironic is that. He was watching us from the patio and it was so funny to watch him sit there wishing he was inside. Natalie even brought him in after that because she felt sorry for him I think. Anyway, we love you Lizzi. You were such a pretty cat. Thanks for being a great pet to our family. We'll miss you very much.

Tea Party Anyone?!

2008-10-12T10:29:00.000-07:00

Natalie has decided that she loves Tea Parties! Yesterday while Mark was watching his BYU Football game she wanted to have a tea party with him on the bed with some pretend food. Today she decided she wanted to have a REAL Tea Party with REAL food. So Katie, Matt & Natalie set up the table with the tea party set. They had crackers, pepperoni, Cheerios and chocolate to eat. Yum! They had a fun time playing and pretending with each other. A great Buffet Natalie. :)
I'll have some pizza please!

Mmmm, good tea!
Slurp!
Pepperoni, but where's the cheese?
Yippee! A Tea Party for me!

Tag I'm It.......

2008-10-08T08:55:00.000-07:00

Hmmm..... I guess I've been tagged by Holly to tell a few things about myself.......

Ok, here goes:

1. I love to go sledding in Idaho City with Mark & the kids and roast hot dogs and drink hot chocolate.

2. I love to travel and have been to Australia (duh?!), Fiji, Bali, Singapore, The Solomon Islands, India, Nepal, New Zealand, Hawaii, Mexico (twice!), Hong Kong and Texas - that's a country right?!

3. I love hot weather and the warm sunshine - it makes me feel happy.

4. When I was a little girl I had a pet Kangaroo.

5. I love to bake and try new recipes.

6. I love to swim and tied my 16 year old nephew in a swimming race when I was 6 months pregnant & 35 years old! (Everyone else I beat! True story!)

7. I HATE crickets. They drive me crazy with their chirping! I will hunt them down and squish them to smitherines if I find the one making all the noise! Grrrrr!

Tag to anyone who reads this! I'll be checking on your blogs to see if you did it too!

Making More Spooky Cupcakes!

2008-10-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

On Sunday the kids and I had a fun time making Spider & Skeleton Cupcakes. I think their most favourite part was eating all the mm's, licorice & marshmallows before they even made it onto their cupcakes! Here are some pictures of their works of art, and the kids busy making them. We made lots of mess, ate lots of yummy treats, and made great memories. :)

Brady just being Cute!

2008-10-05T21:17:00.000-07:00

Today Brady was facinated with Mark's hat. So we put it on him and here he is just chillin'! Yo homey, whaz up?!

Splish Splash Matt was taking a Bath!

2008-10-05T21:03:00.000-07:00

Matt was taking a bubble bath today when he called me in to see what he was doing. This is what I found! I'm not sure if he is trying to be Santa Claus, or Moses parting the Red Sea!

Emily Playing the Flute

2008-10-05T20:41:00.000-07:00

Emily started learning the flute at school about 5 weeks ago. At school there is no flute teacher though to teach her, so she pretty much has taught herself. Besides a few pointers from her Uncle Klayne, and some of the girls who play the flute in band, that is about all she has had to go on. Her band teacher doesn't know how to teach the flute, so she has just had to figure things out herself. Thankfully she knows how to read music, so that is half the battle. We are so impressed with how well she can play after only a short time. Here is a video of her playing a song she has learned. Great job Emily!

Our Wedding Anniversary

2008-10-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

Aren't these roses gorgeous?! Mark was so sweet and gave me a dozen beautiful roses for our Anniversary this week. Oh, and of course chocolate too! We have been married for 16 wonderful years. He is sweet, kind, patient, fun, makes me laugh, changes poopy diapers (nappies), loves me even when I look like Frankenstein, works hard, and is the best husband and dad there is. Oh, and don't forget he is so very, very cute! Happy Anniversary! I love you.

Roasting Mashmallows

2008-10-03T21:34:00.000-07:00

The other night we had a BBQ and thought it would be fun to light the Chiminea and roast some mashmallows. The kids loved it! I think Matt had more fun lighting the mashmallows on fire than actually eating them!

My Sweet Brady!

2008-10-03T21:27:00.000-07:00

Little Brady is almost 7 months old if you can believe it. He is such a sweet baby, and so good. He is finally getting some hair, and can sit up by himself, and is starting to jabber "mama mama"! He has really chubby checks and some fine looking thighs! Here's a picture I took of him today.

Halloween Treats

2008-10-03T21:12:00.000-07:00

The other day the school was having a Bake Sale so I got creative and decided to make some "mummy" cupcakes. They were so easy and fun to make. You make chocolate cupcakes, then you need some white vanilla icing, chocolate icing and chocolate MM's. First put a little chocolate icing in the middle of the cupcake where the face and mm's will go. Then you put the white icing inside an icing bag with a tip that will give you nice wide lines. Ice the cupcakes so that it looks like they have been wrapped in a sheet - individually ice each "strip" if that makes sense. Then put the mm's on for eyes, and use a fine tip to make chocolate dots for on the eyes. There you have your Yummy, Mummy Cupcakes!

Harvest Time!

2008-10-03T20:59:00.000-07:00

We've had a great garden this year, and Kaitlyn's pride and joy was this big cabbage that she has been growing since it was a seed. It seems like it took forever to get this big because we had a cold start to the summer, but once the hot weather arrived, it took off. So here is Katie picking her baby!

Fall is Here

2008-10-03T20:41:00.001-07:00

For my second posting, I'm going to try my luck at putting some photos up. Fall is here and Holly has inspired me to do a little decorating! So here are a few pics of my Haunted House

Finally a BLOG!

2008-10-03T16:50:00.000-07:00

Well I have finally succumbed to the pressures of having a Blog! I hope that I can figure all this out! So here's to my new blog, 3 cheers for me! Hip hip hurray..... hip hip hurray.... hip hip hurray!